KEEPING THEIR TIPS
Restaurant workers object to proposed elimination of tip credit
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Area restaurant workers gathered on Thursday to talk about the governor’s proposed tip credit elimination in New York State and how they can stop it.
A large turnout of restaurant servers, owners and industry leaders met on Thursday at Longfellows Hotel to discuss how they can stop the statewide abolishment of the tip credit, which is the differential wage between tipped workers and the prevailing minimum wage.
The governor’s proposal would increase the tipped workers wage from $7.50 to the state’s full minimum wage, which is currently $10.40 upstate.
All restaurant workers present at Thursday’s meeting were against this proposal.
“The tip credit is imperative to the restaurant industry,” said Restaurant Workers of America co-founder Joshua Chaisson, who came to speak at the local meeting. “The unintended con- sequences would be dire.”
Chaisson is a professional server with 17 years of experience in the restaurant industry hailing from Maine, where the tip credit was eliminated but then reinstated in 2017, partly due to efforts by the restaurant worker community.
During his presentation Chaisson warned local restaurant workers of what could happen should the tip credit disappear. He spoke of support staff losing jobs, automation replacing human workers, menu prices sky- rocketing and restaurants losing business, eventually closing.
Later in the meeting, Chaisson provided guidance on how to stop the proposed tip credit removal from becoming a reality, or how to save the industry as he put it. “This is possible,” he said. “Don’t panic - organize.”
Chaisson encouraged those in the room to testify and share their stories at the upcoming public hearing at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 18 at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, and to contact their legislators regularly about the issue.
Assemblymember Carrie Woerner and state Sen. Kathy Marchione, though unable to attend, both expressed their support for the local restaurant workers behind this cause.
“You are professional salespeople. You’re not victims, and you want to be treated that way,” Woerner said over a video call with the group.
Many at the meeting vowed to voice their opinions about the tip credit in several different ways. At the event, postcards already