This is extremely important because this company needs to realize that we are people and deserve to be treated better and paid properly. We work hard for our tips and it is completely unfair that although the guest is not forced to tip me, I am forced to tip out the food runner, whether I made money or not. We are already not getting paid any extra with the virtual kitchens they've put in place without our consent, which are completely exploiting us for Corporate greed but now they're literally taking money from our pockets to pay the staff for a new role that they chose to add, that no one needed or asked for.

We all deserve stable, livable wages and we all deserve to be able to feed our families, and pay for the roof over our heads like every other working professional. During the pandemic tips went down, guests became hostile, and sexual harassment went way up! We, service workers, are professionals and need to be compensated fairly. In Maine, workers earning under $15/hr comprised 70% of all workers receiving food stamp benefits. The tipped wage disproportionately impacts women and people of color. In Maine, women make up 79% of tipped workers. By raising the minimum wage to $15/hour for all workers we would lift 77,626 Mainers out of poverty, a 53% reduction in poverty, and reduce the economic inequality for women and people of color. The pandemic has only made things worse for workers in the service industry. Thousands of tipped workers have left the industry because conditions have gotten so bad. > 53% of workers are considering leaving the industry > 70% of whom indicate that they are leaving due to low wages and tips > 78% say the only factor that would cause them to remain in the industry would be a livable wage with tips on top. Maine small business restaurant employers have been voluntarily raising wages to recruit talented staff that would allow them to fully reopen. However, these small business employers need support: They need a level playing field to ensure all businesses are raising wages together, so that they are not at a competitive disadvantage. The real solution to the labor shortage is to pay fair and livable wages so that workers can return to the industry that they left.

We all deserve the basic right of being able to survive with our wage, of being able to afford to feed our families, pay the roof over our heads, and be able to eat, like every other working professional. We are professionals who should be compensated fairly. If every other industry is paid at least the minimum wage, then we must not stand for even one penny less than minimum wage!

It is better to try and fail than to fail to try. I should not have to tell you why you need to support this fight. You worked for this benefit for most of your working life. Air Canada told us over and over again we would retire with all of our benefits. We did right up until 2013 when the company decided to bargain away travel priority for long term contracts. It is not very nice to travel 50 or70 miles to an airport only to find out your not getting on. Think of the costs.

Other people, especially my fellow health-care coworkers, should join my petition because we deserve to be valued more. Cvs can afford to support their employees at the "low totum pole" retail stores...we are their bread winners anyway!

Across the country, restaurant workers are refusing to work for poverty wages. Over a million workers have already left the industry due to low wages and tips. Of those who remain, 54% say they're leaving, and 80% say they won't come back without a full, livable wage with tips on top. In response, thousands of small and medium-sized restaurants are raising wages to recruit staff. But Darden, which leads the National Restaurant Association, not only refuses to genuinely raise its wages, but is also lobbying to keep the minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers at $2.13 at the federal level. As long as they lobby against wages going up, and refuse to pay their own workers, no one should apply. We should all be getting a fair, regular, hourly wage plus tips on top! Darden makes so much money off of worker backs, and we are tired of it. The company AND the workers can all flourish together. The company can be successful AND it can pay workers fair wages. In CA, OR, WA, AK, MN, MT, Darden Restaurants are already paying workers a fair wage PLUS tips (because they are mandated to, by law), and they are still making bank! There’s no reason that Darden can’t do this in all 50 states! In many US states, they are paying workers $2.15 + tips and this has got to stop. Darden CEO Gene Lee said, “Now there may not be enough service workers on the staff of every restaurant in America, but there’s enough service workers out there to staff Darden’s restaurants.” NO THERE AREN’T! PAY US FAIRLY OR WE WON'T APPLY TO YOUR RESTAURANTS!

The same job class should be paid equally for performing the exact same job! It shouldn’t matter if you are PT or FT. It is especially difficult if you are a single parent or sole income earner.

Sam's Club and Walmart must stop all of the discrimination against employees with disabilities and elderly employees. We desperately need workers rights. Many Associates are afraid to speak up against Walmart and Sam club's harassments towards them, especially seniors. Stop Walmart from pitting associates against each other. I would like Sam's Club/Walmart to change for the better. I also would like union representation if associates chose to.

“We all have the same goal and this is for the cruelty and injustices that Topgolf is full of to end! I can't change what has happened to anyone although I wish I could but I sure can hope for change for future employees.” - Brittany, worker @ TopGolf TopGolf had over 12 legal cases against it from 2020-2021, made by workers who have suffered abuses from the company. TopGolf is a restaurant and golf entertainment chain that exemplifies both the toxic misogyny pervasive in the restaurant industry and restaurant chains’ resistance to change. This type of behavior needs to stop! TopGolf workers deserve to work in a safe space, free of sexual harassment, free of sexual assault, free of discrimination, and free of wage theft. Support current and former TG employees who are coming together to organize for real structural changes. Let’s hold TopGolf accountable to their workers!

New York is the most expensive state to live in, yet, restaurant tipped workers are earning $10/hr. We can’t survive on anything less than 100% of the wage-- we need $15 with tips on top. Governor Hochul has the power to help! Avoid the nightmare before Christmas, and sign the executive action to pay restaurant workers fair wages! This Christmas and Christmas Eve, many of us in the industry are refusing to work for subminimum wages. Many of us will be calling out, walking out, and/or taking a sick-out day. We want to stay warm with our loved ones because we cannot continue to put our families and ourselves in harm's way for these substandard wages. I am signing this petition because this Christmas & Christmas Eve, I refuse to work for subminimum wages, and will stand in solidarity with other restaurant workers who are fighting for the dignity of a fair wage this holiday season and beyond! We are willing to work, but need fair wages. Cheers to you, fellow bartenders, servers, barbacks, food runners, bussers, hosts and more! We deserve more. [OFW was asked to set this petition up on behalf of various restaurant workers planning this action, and is supporting this holiday season.]

We believe that those of us on the frontline of the Cheesecake Factory have not been treated fairly or compensated adequately. While the company has come through the pandemic with record profits, we have not seen the gains that our labor produced nor been adequately protected from the risks we are taking on by working directly with the public each day.

The issue of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior at Chili's is unacceptable, but it's also reflective of the entire restaurant industry, as a whole. We need to make a change for all future restaurant workers because no one should have to endure exploitation, sexual harassment, or bullying in the workplace.