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Saru Jayaraman: Fighting for One Fair Wage

Ryan Honeyman
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The sub-minimum wage for tipped workers hasn’t gone up in 30 years. This is a direct result of the undue influence of corporations over our democracy. Saru Jayaraman joins us on the show today to discuss how she is pushing back against these injustices. Saru is an academic at UC Berkeley and the President at One Fair Wage, a national organization working to raise wages for service workers nationwide.

Our conversation with Saru begins with a history of the restaurant industry and the origins of the payment system it adopted which saw newly-freed slaves living entirely on tips. She talks about how this practice has remained largely unchanged and the role that the National Restaurant Association has played in this. Saru speaks about how restaurant chains often lie about the fact that they are not able to pay workers what they deserve, and how this unfair payment system is connected to the mistreatment and sexual harassment of women.

This conversation is not without its silver lining though and Saru weighs in on some of the factors that are pushing the needle forward. We hear about the blow the pandemic struck to the restaurant industry and how this has caused workers to quit in record numbers, which in turn is forcing restaurants to offer better compensation. Saru speaks about the legislative changes happening in many states, the movement of High Road restaurants that are setting an example by treating their workers fairly, and the approach taken by One Fair Wage to put a stop to sub-minimum wage practices across the US.

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Key Points From This Episode:

  • How Saru’s campaign to end sub-minimum wages in the US began

  • The history of minimum wages and the reasons they haven’t gone up in the restaurant industry.

  • The lie that it is impossible to pay workers more when there is data to prove that it is actually profitable to do so.

  • Harassment that women have to endure while working in the restaurant industry.

  • How the pandemic has threatened the restaurant industry, and how the industry has responded.

  • The need for fair minimum wages to become policy.

  • Resources for restaurants that want to change the status quo.

  • The factors which keep Saru motivated to continue this work.

  • States who are taking legislative action, activist movements in other industries, and what gives Saru hope.

  • What you can do to help Saru grow her mission.

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Tweetables:

  • “This is not just about 13 million workers in the restaurant industry. This goes to the core of our democracy and our economy and our identity as a country.” — @SaruJayaraman

  • “The top reason workers don’t want to work in restaurants is because the pay doesn’t work anymore. They can’t afford to work in restaurants anymore. That has resulted in the silver lining, where workers are finally standing up for themselves for the first time in 150 years.” — @SaruJayaraman

  • “I know a lot of people would come back to their beloved profession if they were paid as the professionals that they are.” — @SaruJayaraman

  • “These are unnatural suppressed wages from an unnaturally imbalanced system where you have corporate trade lobbies overriding our democracy.” — @SaruJayaraman

  • “I see change on the horizon. I see restaurants raising wages.” — @SaruJayaraman

  • “It is not radical to raise the wage to $15 or $18. It is truly radical to suppress the wage so much that the overall minimum wage has not gone up in a decade and the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers hasn’t gone up in 30 years. That is radical.” — @SaruJayaraman

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Saru Jayaraman — https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/faculty/saru-jayaraman

Saru Jayaraman on Twitter — https://twitter.com/sarujayaraman

One Fair Wage — https://onefairwage.site/

One Fair Wage — https://www.powells.com/book/waging-change-doing-right-by-americas-lowest-wage-workers-9781620975336

Behind the Kitchen Door — https://www.powells.com/book/behind-the-kitchen-door-9780801451720

Forked — https://www.powells.com/book/forked-9780199380473?partnerid=43963&p_tx

High Road Restaurants – https://www.highroadrestaurants.org/

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