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Service Workers

Impending Strike In Las Vegas Exposes Labor Abuses Nationwide

Nearly 400 food service workers are set to go on strike at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas this week over wage disputes. They are underpaid and haven’t seen a raise in many years. This is the predicament facing many workers in the service industry, even though they play a critical key role in the contemporary capitalist economy. Gig and service sector workers are indeed among the most overexploited segments of the working class — struggling with low pay, lack of legal protection, and insecure employment.

Michigan’s Labor Revival

Michigan now has a more receptive environment for labor organizing and collective bargaining following the repeal of Right to Work laws within the past few years, and previous failures to retain unions in the private sector, according to a new report from Wayne State University’s Labor Workshop. One area of potential labor growth is in the health care sector, with a recent uptick of union organizing petitions. But the report also noted new challenges and political strain are on the horizon, including budget cuts, unfair labor practices and new anti-labor laws considering signals from federal and state leaders.

Waffle House Workers Fight Back Against Wage Theft

A new survey by the Strategic Organizing Center found that 90% of Waffle House workers polled have experienced some form of wage theft in the past year. 77% reported experiencing more than one form of wage theft, and 49% reported experiencing more than two. 75% of Waffle House workers reported that they had “been required to perform job tasks before clocking in or after clocking out,” 72% had been “not been paid for all hours worked or all tasks performed,” 58% had been paid a much lower tipped wage for work they did not receive tips on, and 21% reported that they did not always receiving overtime pay despite working over 40 hours per week.

Tipping Is A Racist Relic

In most of the country, workers in restaurants, bars, nail salons, barber shops, and various other service jobs are paid differently than workers in virtually all other occupations. For these workers, a large portion (in many cases all) of their take-home pay comes from gratuity or “tips” provided directly from the customer. While employers of workers in nearly all other occupations must pay at least the minimum wage, federal and most states’ laws establish a lower “subminimum wage” for tipped workers that effectively passes the responsibility for compensating these workers from their employers to their clientele.

Another Win For Union And Worker Center Collaborations

In the late summer of 2021, a group of workers from First Avenue, the iconic Minneapolis music venue, were fed up with low pay, last-minute scheduling, lack of parking, and safety concerns, and wanted to implement some of their own ideas in their workplace. Unsure of how to get it done, the workers decided to first contact  Restaurant Opportunities Center of Minnesota (ROC-MN) to learn more about their workplace rights. Fast forward to November 2: Over 200 bartenders, event staff, and other in-house workers across seven venues affiliated with First Avenue marched on the boss and delivered a petition that included the faces and names of over 70% of staff who want to unionize with UNITE HERE Local 17.
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