ROC-United
50 signatures reached
To: Vermont State Legislature
Stand with Vermont's Restaurant Workers!
Join me in asking the Vermont State Legislature to pass One Fair Wage legislation, which would raise the tipped minimum wage and provide higher wages for over 12,000 workers in our state.
Why is this important?
Vermonters love to dine out, experience new things, and try new foods and flavors. So do the many tourists that visit our beautiful state each year. The restaurant culture and service industry isn’t going anywhere and neither are the amazing humans who work in and sustain it. Not only is it not going anywhere, it has been growing and expanding rapidly.
The service industry has grown 80% since the 1990s, more than any other sector of our economy in America. Nationally, 1 out of every 2 people currently works or has worked in the service industry. Under current Vermont law, tipped workers bring home $5.39 an hour before tips. This leaves a large section of Vermont’s workforce - 12,300 people, nearly 80% of whom are women - vulnerable to inconsistent and unreliable pay, low wages, and harassment. This year, we're fighting to raise the standards for thousands of Vermont's tipped service workers and fight for One Fair Wage, improving the security of those who work in Vermont's profitable food service industry by raising wages across the board to at least $15 an hour before tips, phased in over several years.
As someone who has worked in the industry for many years, I enjoy and take pride in this work. I also know firsthand the challenges that we face as a result of poverty wages. Elsewhere, others have also begun to recognize these challenges. Many states such as Minnesota, California, Washington, and Oregon have already agreed to One Fair Wage: a single minimum wage for all restaurant workers with tips as usual.
Will you stand in support and solidarity with Vermont’s tipped workforce and let our legislators know that you support #OneFairWage?
Let’s be on the right side of history together. Join me in signing today.
Andy Sebranek
Burlington, VT
The service industry has grown 80% since the 1990s, more than any other sector of our economy in America. Nationally, 1 out of every 2 people currently works or has worked in the service industry. Under current Vermont law, tipped workers bring home $5.39 an hour before tips. This leaves a large section of Vermont’s workforce - 12,300 people, nearly 80% of whom are women - vulnerable to inconsistent and unreliable pay, low wages, and harassment. This year, we're fighting to raise the standards for thousands of Vermont's tipped service workers and fight for One Fair Wage, improving the security of those who work in Vermont's profitable food service industry by raising wages across the board to at least $15 an hour before tips, phased in over several years.
As someone who has worked in the industry for many years, I enjoy and take pride in this work. I also know firsthand the challenges that we face as a result of poverty wages. Elsewhere, others have also begun to recognize these challenges. Many states such as Minnesota, California, Washington, and Oregon have already agreed to One Fair Wage: a single minimum wage for all restaurant workers with tips as usual.
Will you stand in support and solidarity with Vermont’s tipped workforce and let our legislators know that you support #OneFairWage?
Let’s be on the right side of history together. Join me in signing today.
Andy Sebranek
Burlington, VT
