Raeghn Draper is a hospitality worker, coauthor of the “Girl, I Guess Progressive Voter Guide,” and the executive director of the Chicago Hospitality Accountability & Advocacy Database (CHAAD) Project.
After a blitz by restaurant industry lobbyists, Chicago’s city council voted last week to maintain the subminimum wage for service workers, keeping them stuck in precarity and poverty wages.
The tipped worker subminimum wage keeps service employees’ livelihoods subject to the whims of bosses and customers. Momentum to end that subminimum wage is growing in cities like Washington, DC, but industry groups are mobilizing to maintain the status quo.