Why Are Restaurant Workers Leaving Their Jobs? (with Saru Jayaraman)

Do you work in the restaurant industry? With the massive demand for take out, for safe dining, and all kinds of crazy anti-maskers demanding to eat indoors, how has it been?

In four out of five states, the tipped minimum wage is under $5/hour for workers. In theory, the gap between the tipped wage and the minimum wage should be filled by customers tips, and if not the boss is supposed to pay the difference. Even when that actually happens, this perpetuates a cruel and unjust system where service workers have to put up with literally anything customers want, with a smile on their face, otherwise they won’t be able to pay rent at the end of the month. For women, especially, this forces them to grit their teeth and endure endless waves of sexual harassment from entitled men.With the pandemic, over 6 million restaurant workers lost their jobs. That’s one in four Americans who lost their job in the restaurant industry. In many states, their sub-minimum wage rate meant that they didn’t earn enough money to even qualify for unemployment insurance. This shockwave sent ripples throughout the industry, and have caused an awakening of sorts among these workers. No longer are they settling for understaffed and overworked restaurants, now they’re leveraging their power as workers to get a better deal from management. The main issue is that the wage system needs to be overhauled and the minimum wage must be raised.

Saru Jayaraman is an American attorney, author, and activist from Los Angeles, California. Saru is an academic at UC Berkeley and the President of One Fair Wage, a national organization working to raise wages for service workers nationwide.

Follow her on Twitter

The Bitchuation Room was joined by Jena Friedman, writer and comedian with an upcoming show on AMC+ called "Indefensible with Jena Friedman." You’ve also seen her on Conan, The Late Show with Steven Colbert, and in the film Palm Springs, and she’s written for The Late Show with David Letterman, The Conners, and Borat 2.

Follow her on Twitter

Recorded September 21, 2021

*********************************************Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!

Support The Bitchuation Room by becoming a Patron:

Support The Bitchuation Room on:

Venmo: @TBR-LIVE

Cash-App: @TBRLIVE

Check Out The Bitchuation Room Podcast

Google Music

Find Francesca On:

YouTubeThe Bitchuation Room’s channel