AOC will tend bar for a day to advocate for higher wages. That’s the same policy that bankrupted her former employer. She thinks that people who make tips like waitresses should be getting minimum wage or above.
My late wife worked as a waitress for a year and her paycheck meant nothing to us as she would bring home up to $300 on some nights and holidays. At 20% it adds up fast. Restaurants and bars are not high volume profit propositions and the increase in costs could lead to a hell of a lot of closings. Losing that many jobs would hurt.
The freshman congresswoman will return to her district in New York City this Friday to “pour a few pints” and push for the federal Raise the Wage Act while showing support for “abolishing below-minimum wage” for tipped workers in the state, the New York Daily News reports. The exact location of the event, which was organized by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for increased pay through its ONE FAIR WAGE campaign, will be announced later.
“We’re very grateful for our partnership with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who fully understands the struggles of these workers,” Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of Restaurant Opportunities Center United, told the Daily News of the event. “As a former tipped worker, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez can shed light on the importance of One Fair Wage to lift up these workers and their families.”
However, the very policies Ocasio-Cortez is set to draw attention to ultimately led to one of her former employers shuttering its own operations.
Charles Milite, co-founder of the Coffee Shop, where Ocasio-Cortez previously worked, said that the increased minimum wage to $15 per hour for businesses with more than 11 employees led him and his partners to reevaluate their business and shut it down.