The Real Reason Women Aren't Applying For Restaurant Jobs

[appalachiablue]

______

It’s not because they’re lazy. Andrea Guzman, Mother Jones, May 8, 2021, -Ed.

As the restaurant industry struggles to fill jobs cut early in the pandemic, some media outlets and politicians, like Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), are pinning the labor shortage on unemployment benefits. People are lazy, their thinking goes; government assistance turns people into welfare queens who don’t return to work because they’ve grown dependent on handouts. Others are pointing out that wages must be pretty low in order for someone to consider living on unemployment instead.

In reality, according to a new report by nonprofit restaurant advocacy group One Fair Wage, most restaurant workers had trouble even accessing unemployment insurance: “they either could not access these benefits or earned much less than they should have and than they needed due to the subminimum wage for tipped workers and complications with their tips not being recognized as income.” Even if they did access the benefits, a Yale study done earlier in the pandemic found “no evidence that more generous benefits disincentivized work either at the onset of the expansion, or as firms looked to return to business over time.”

The reason servers and cooks and dishwashers are leaving restaurants en masse is because restaurant jobs by and large offer dismal wages and terrible working conditions, especially for women. In surveys conducted from last fall to this month, more than half of restaurant workers said they are strongly considering leaving the industry, with 76% saying the reason for that decision is low wages. Other workers cited concerns about COVID-19 safety, desire to transition to a different industry, and concerns over hostility and harassment from customers, coworkers or management, and 91% of mothers reported decreased tips during the pandemic.

Jillian Melton, who’d worked at a restaurant for 7 years up until last year, talked about earning the tipped minimum wage (which restaurant workers earn in many states) in Tenn. A mother of 5, she said she can’t afford to hope she makes enough in tips in a shift only to earn less than expected. "We're not short on workers, we're short on good jobs." Carisa Shade, a former bartender and mother of 4 who lost her job early in the pandemic said, "It’s not just emotional or physical or germs,” “it’s the toll of all the complexities that are put together.” She and her husband, a chef, have talked about starting their own restaurant which would allow them to recruit the best workers and offer better treatment.
> Shade said, “We can provide them with all the things that other companies fail to realize." “Like, you’re a person, you have to eat, you need to go to the bathroom, you need to take off because you’re having a baby.”

"Because of the pandemic ('she-session'), these are some of the riskiest jobs in the nation. No one should have to risk their life for a job that doesn't pay the bills," said Rep. Judy Chu (D- Calif.), a cosponsor for the 'Raise The Wage Act.'

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/05/the-real-reason-women-arent-applying-to-restaurant-jobs/

[ret5hd]

1. You know, there just aren't any good $2000 cars anymore.

And ya’ used to be able to buy a house for $25k.
And gas used to be $0.25/gallon

And ya’ USED TO be able to hire a waitress for $2.15/hr. Get the fuck over it and pay what the market demands, you chump-witted human scavengers

[appalachiablue]

2. But 'it's wimmen's work'! Low lifes need to fork

over fair wages and set up decent working conditions, now. It's long, long overdue and also pandemic time, maybe medieval style...

[ret5hd]

4. It ain't just "wimmens work"...

it’s janitors and fry cooks and stockers and tire changers and landscapers and roofers and lettuce pickers and every stoop-labor type job that has been short changed for at least the last 40 years, every job that doesn’t have a wage/hours/benefits package that will keep someone fed and sleeping under a roof rather than in a tent or car.

[whathehell]

11. Um, and if it was?

I don't believe the poster was citing that as a serious objection. Just sayin'.

[ret5hd]

17. It's "workers work"...

it’s sweat. It’s blood. It’s tedium. It’s headaches. It’s carpal tunnel and back spasms. It’s aching feet and shitty bosses. It’s excavation cave-ins and “Mr. Pinks” (Reservoir Dogs reference).

Every sub-blue-collar worker in the world (and the blue collar workers also) need to stand up. Yeah, I know I’m screaming at the clouds, but I’m pissed as hell, and I’m not taking it anymore (Network reference).

Proud retired union member, and believer in the working man.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

26. Fellow union member gives you a thumbs-up and

wishes for a long, happy retirement. I'm looking forward to mine within the next couple years.

[whathehell]

29. . That's better

Having worked in restaurants and bars for more than twenty years, I definitely "get it".

[appalachiablue]

15. The title, quotes from those interviewed

and the focus of the article are about women, mainly servers and also cooks and dishwashers employed in the restaurant business and reliant on low wages/tips. "The Real Reason Women Aren't Applying For Restaurant Jobs."

Hence my expression 'wimmen's work,' a phrase also used pejoratively for those in the nursing, teaching and other typically female, aka 'pink collar' professions.

You're correct in highlighting other workers including men that labor in many ways to keep the industry going. It would be interesting to learn their views on pay, working conditions and employment satisfaction.

[ret5hd]

19. I am not trying to distract the conversation from women...

AT ALL! Women have been shortchanged for millennia.

I am just saying we (men, women, workers): “Workers of the world, Unite”

I’d really fit in better in a different era.

[appalachiablue]

33. I get it, watching the steady erosion

of hard fought protections for employees from decades ago and the slide into widespread exploitation, esp. of many immigrants is a nightmare.

It has to end somehow, but with the growing politics of fascism here and elsewhere and automation on the rise it's going to be a real challenge.

The young are also inheriting social-political turmoil and a dangerous planet threatened by climate change. If and until things change for the better and I hope they do, it's 'gig work,' Jim Crow abuse and miserable conditions in too may industries except for the most fortunate in high level white collar professions.

Biden's administration and his plans for a big agenda are generating much optimism thank god, and I hope it continues.

[ShazamIam]

31. Wage suppression became official U.S. labor policy with the 1976 EITC plan where tax money instead

of an increase in the minimum wage was created to subsidize the workers of the lowest paying employers, big ag and the food processors. This not only limited the workers pay, it freed the employer from additional Social Security matching and kept the amount low for the workers which means now retirees don't have enough to live on.
Illegal immigrant workers were brought in to break the Farm Workers and Meat cutters unions, then they were granted a path to Citizenship via Simpson-Mazzoli legislation in the 80s.

At that time, janitorial jobs were respectable and permanent and included the benefits of other company employees, now they are mostly illegal immigrants treated no better than slaves.

Restaurant workers are the most slave-like of all the work, depending on bowing and scraping for tips, so subservient and humiliating.

[appalachiablue]

34. +2

[RANDYWILDMAN]

7. Oregon restaurants only open to 25% capacity

They used to make 75% more

Until you can fill that restaurant, they need to pay them a lot more to be there.

[Hoyt]

3. For those that can, sounds like a good time to seek better employment.

Maybe pay reform will come, but why wait when other opportunities seem available.

[Gaugamela]

5. People have been treading water and just scraping by for so long, once the cycle is broken

they have zero incentive to go back. They get a break from the demoralizing grind and ask themselves why the fuck would I go back to that?

[appalachiablue]

20. I think that is the case for a good number,

it's only natural to examine and evaluate when there's a break.

I've read for months that especially due to Covid, many medical, health and care workers are also experiencing the same thing-- high stress, overwork, burnout, not enough pay and they are seriously considering leaving the field.

We're loosing very valuable people, permanently.

[Gaugamela]

22. Good point! I have read that pandemics always have a profound impact on society. Maybe this is

why. People have a chance to reevaluate their lives, and refuse to go back. It’s like the old frog in the slowly boiling pot metaphor. You take the frog out and it gets a larger perspective and won’t go back. It reassesses the risk factors and decides to move on.

[AverageOldGuy]

6. Did anyone else notice . . . .

. . . when the pandemic hit "essential workers" DID include grocery store workers, garbage collectors, truck drivers, health care aides . . . but "essential workers" DID NOT include stock brokers, bankers, hedge fund mangers, CEOs, . . .

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. You can be a stock broker from home

Most essential worker jobs require that you be there and take all the risks that involves. I have a friend that works at Walmart. He's in his 40s and was scared shitless until he was finally able to get vaccinated a couple of weeks ago.

Kroger paid $2 an hour hazard pay for 3 whole months! Then in places that mandated continued hazard pay for workers in contact with the public, Kroger just shut down stores. Meanwhile, the CEO made $22M and the average worker's salary declined 8%.

[Gaugamela]

24. The first category are the people who do the real work. The second category are the monkeys on

their backs that manipulate the economy.

[Mr. Evil]

8. For all the republicans making bank from the taxpayers

just to always say, "no" to good legislation, they're the lazy ones. Put an 'R' next to your name, prop your feet up and just say, "no!" Wouldn't it be great if everyone could be like republicans in Congress and have a job that pays 6 figures, has great benefits and insurance?! Why would anyone want to work a shitty, stressful job that won't afford you the chance to break even?
I hate republicans!

[mn9driver]

9. A restaurant a few blocks from me has switched to a 20 percent service charge.

It’s automatic and is a non-optional part of the bill and most importantly, it is not a gratuity. It is part of the staffs compensation and will be counted for Unemployment if they get laid off in the future.

The American way of tipping at restaurants and paying servers sub-minimum wage is weird and messed up. It needs to change.

[ret5hd]

12. What a backassed way of doing things...

“Hey, eat at Joe’s, home of the cheapest prime rib eye steaks in town!!! Only $10.99!!!”

“Oh, plus our 500% ‘service charge’, but blame that on our staff that are too lazy to work for french fries and a place to sleep in the basement.”

[3Hotdogs]

25. Yeah, make more sense... Raise the price to $14.00.

Tips not allowed.

A N.Y. restaurant tried that a few years ago. Didn't work out for them. Went back to traditional system.

Raising the wages in restaurants also increases employer's workmen's comp and F.I.C.A. costs.

[czarjak]

13. Tipping is unheard of in Japan.

[Hoyt]

21. I agree. But I bet there are a bunch of servers who are fine with tip system.

[Demobrat]

27. A restaurant near me is doing that.

The new 20% service charge will be split between the servers, dishwashers, and others.

It’s pretty controversial.

[niyad]

14. Thank you for this most informative article. Would you consider cross-posting in Women's Rights

And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[appalachiablue]

18. All done, appreciate you mentioning it. :)

[SergeStorms]

16. The most over worked, under paid....

and under appreciated job out there.

I always tip a minimum of 25% for waitresses and waiters, unless they're extremely rude. Almost always "bad service" isnt their fault, so that very seldom enters in to it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. I realize that things are different now,

but in the past I often noticed that there were always different servers, always, in a restaurant I'd go to regularly.

[marble falls]

30. If works needs being done to the point of needing someone to do it weekly for over 30hr/wk ...

... that job is worth paying living wages for.

Why does the US have to pay over two billion dollars a year in benefits to Walmart workers when the four major Walton family members split around three billion a year?

[Aristus]

32. Employee: "My wages are too low." Employer: "Well, just go get a better job then!"

Employee goes and gets a better job.

Employer: "How come you won't work for me anymore? You must be lazy!"