Caroline Carter-New proposal to give restaurants more control over workers' tips

A new proposal issued by the Labor Department will give restaurant owners more control over their employees' tips, which could cost those who rely on tips billions of dollars each year. The Department has also asked people to weigh in with their opinions, concerns, and questions, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have spoken out, many of them workers in the industry. Customer tips are estimated to be around 20% of what an industry makes overall, and it is clear why big corporations would want control of that extra 20%. Restaurant owners like Kurt Huffman have argued for the bill, saying they would put the tips into kitchen workers' salaries, and some small businesses would use the bill to equalize wages in the restaurant industry. It is the others that have Americans worried right now.

My mother worked as a waitress through most of her college career, and she has told me how difficult it is to work in that industry, especially because pay is usually pretty low so most workers rely on good tips. If that were taken away, waiters and waitresses would be left with a smaller salary and some who use that job as a way to pay for college or pay off bills could fall short of what they need to make. This is similar to the Gilded Age, when factory owners paid their employees next to nothing and forbid them from protesting low wages. This is exactly why learning history is important--so we don't repeat our past mistakes that we have already paid for and learned from.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/05/583461856/its-last-call-for-trump-administration-proposal-on-tip-control-in-restaurant-ind