Class Warfare At Big Flo's Diner, Let Them Eat Hash

[survivor999]

By Bob Higgins

The minimum wage battle continues, with unions and workers fighting for an entry level raise for honest American workers that has been denied for nearly a decade while the dispassionate empty suits of business, their lackeys in local and national Chambers of Commerce, and the evil lick spittle minions they have purchased wholesale in our government at all levels, make pious pronouncements about the "marketplace" and the peril of allowing the government to regulate wages.

In the meantime, I've been talking to my friend, Jane.



Jane is a hardworking person, a decent, honest, American citizen, whose children are grown and now, divorced, has found herself forced to stay in the workplace to support the cost of her health insurance.

Jane has worked in the service sector as a Server in various restaurants for many years. As I say, she has a good work ethic and goes in every day, works hard, hustles and takes care of her customers, many of whom are regulars and patronize the restaurant in large part due her friendly attitude and the good service she provides.

The company that Jane works for is a large one with more than twenty five thousand employees working all over the country in various restaurant enterprises as well as other areas of the industry. (This ain't Ma and Pa Kettle's Corner Choke and Chew.) They are a very successful company and make a lot of money. A whole, big, heaping lot of money.

Their upper management is exceptionally well compensated and middle management is able to live very comfortably. The individual managers make a decent living, but, being at the bottom of the management food chain, they are often taken advantage of with long hours, chronic micro-management and the ever present threat of uncertainty in their continued employment.

More: http://agonist.org/bobhiggins/20060720/class_warfare_at_big_flos_diner_let_them_eat_hash

[brokensymmetry]

1. K&R. Will we let this thread die?

We shouldn't. If the Janes of this world become
politically aware, we won't see another rethuglican
congress in a century.

Instead, we talk of other things. Jane languishes.
And so do our political chances.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. My stepson was in management

at one of the big pizza chains, and they treated him like dirt. He finally quit in disgust.

[survivor999]

4. Wow...

Do you mean that his superiors were always unhappy with him regardless of how well he did? Why are these people paid so much? Often they are incompetent jerks...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. He was an assistant manager

who was sent to restaurants where morale was low and the previous management was terrible. He was always promised that the next restaurant would be his, and he'd start up the management ladder. The straw that broke it was when he was denied taking off his birthday (a day off he'd requested two months before) because he had to train the guy who was to manage the last restaurant that he'd straightened up and which had been promised to him.

[wakeme2008]

3. One of the reasons I will not eat at Outback or their other restaurants

When there was a ballot measure a couple years ago in Florida for a minimum wage, the then owners of Outback were pouring money into killing that but they lost. The Florida minimum wage would up "tipped" restaurant works around a dollar an hour and to hear the restaurant industry all the restauants in Florida were going to close if this passed. :rofl: Ya Right....

[blogslut]

6. Kick for the Service workers

They do God's work.

[blm]

16. This is the economy the fascists want - a service economy for all.

.

[formercia]

26. The Chamber of Commerce

a front for the Knights of Malta. Same people trying to take away your right to an honest vote.

Hitler loved them and Fearless Leader loves them. Time to fight back or lose it forever.

[novalib]

7. Kick For All The Underpaid and

under-appreciate workers of the world!

[survivor999]

8. I wonder how many at DU

Are in Jane's situation... Perhaps I'll have a poll....

[sandnsea]

9. Change the waitress pay law

A few states pay restaurant workers minimum wage, including Oregon. It still isn't much if you're in a $5.15 an hr state, but when it gets up to $7.50 plus tips, at least you can breathe a little. Funny thing, meals from one state to the next cost about the same too.

[OneBlueSky]

10. I agree totally . . . waitpersons should be paid minimum wage . . .

just like everyone else . . . their tips should be bonuses for exceptional service, not what they depend on to pay their bills each week . . .

[Ghost in the Machine]

23. I have a sister and an aunt who are servers.. at the same

restaurant... they both make $2.13/hr... and both make at least $100 in tips in an 8 hour shift... that works out to $12.50/hr just on tips.. add the $2.13/hr salary and they are making almost $15.00 per hour... I know roofers and framers that would kill to make that much, and they do a lot harder work..(not to take anything away from servers, they do a hell of a job also. I ALWAYS leave at least 4 or 5 bucks for a tip, no matter what)

[Gormy Cuss]

14. California's another state where they are paid minimum.

As far as I can tell, this hasn't resulted in a dearth of McDonalds or coffee shops etc.

[misanthrope]

18. In Alabamistan...

...it's still $2.15 an hour and if your tips suck, you're out of luck. Though laws state that in any shift which doesn't result in the server making minimum wage that the employer has to pay the difference, it's ignored.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. Time for a liveable minimum wage and a SPHC system.

No question. Millions of people are expected to survive on less than substinence wages and no health benefits. Where's the family values in that?

Edit: folks want to win over "heartland values voters"- hey, how about instead of trying to win 'em by tossing the atheists, gays, and pro-choicers off the bus, we frame that kind of thing in clear values language?

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Book recommendation: "Nickeled and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805063897/102-2201532-7342538?v=glance&n=283155

A lot of food servers are paid the bare minimum and are dependent on tips, a stipend that is dependent upon the food preparation, the perceived attitude of the food server, and/or the general mood of the patron. I try to leave 20% as I know how toiling the work is and how contracted their compensation is.

[LostinVA]

13. And,m they are taxed on the tips whether or not they even get the tips

[troubleinwinter]

17. My son-in-law is an Executive Chef.

He ALWAYS leaves a 25% tip. When asked why, he says, "I know how hard they work".

[SoCalDem]

25. Our tax here is almost 8%, so we tip the easy way

we double the tax and add 2 bucks:)

[eppur_se_muova]

22. Second that book recommendation. I definitely upped my tips after reading.

Of course, what I'd really like to see is that crap about getting less than minimum wage done away with.

[Armstead]

15. Kick for what should be a core issue

[senseandsensibility]

19. kick

We should save this article and repost it on Labor Day. Labor Day is always pretty much ignored around here. But it's a good reminder, no matter what the day, that the working people of this country are exploited . And it's getting worse.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

20. The working class is the true heart of the Democratic Party.

If the current Democratic Party ruling class cannot vigorously support the needs of the working class over corporate America interests they need to be replaced.

[survivor999]

21. Completely agree with that (n/t)

[Ghost in the Machine]

24. Kicking.. for all the "Janes" in this world...

as a hard-working single father for over 10 years now (and my kids are only 13 & 14), I know firsthand the plight of hard-working single mothers...