By Peoples’ Dispatch
On the morning of Thursday, September 19, Waffle House workers from across Georgia converged at a Waffle House location in the town of Morrow to protest widespread theft of wages.
A new survey by the Strategic Organizing Center found that 90 percent of Waffle House workers polled have experienced some form of wage theft in the past year. 77 percent reported experiencing more than one form of wage theft, and 49 percent reported experiencing more than two.
75 percent of Waffle House workers reported that they had “been required to perform job tasks before clocking in or after clocking out,” 72 percent had been “not been paid for all hours worked or all tasks performed,” 58 percent had been paid a much lower tipped wage for work they did not receive tips on, and 21 percent reported not always receiving overtime pay despite working over 40 hours per week.
The rally also comes after a complaint was filed by the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), a union seeking to organize Waffle House employees and other low wage service workers across the US South, with the US Department of Labor. According to the USSW, “Waffle House workers allege rampant wage theft in the form of the company refusing to pay tipped servers the federal minimum wage when they perform non-tipped tasks such as cooking and deep cleaning.”
Wage theft steals more from working people than any other crime in the US. According to the Economic Policy Institute, employers rob workers of as much as $50 billion each year, which dwarfs the amount of money stolen through robbery, burglary, and motor vehicle theft each year according to FBI statistics from 2019. Yet most mainstream media, principally local media sources, dedicate little time to reporting on one of the most widespread crimes across the country, which disproportionately affects workers earning the lowest wages. Most importantly, bosses who steal wages are rarely held accountable, with state labor departments often ruling in favor of employers. Research by CBS News found that out of 650,000 total wage theft complaints, states ruled in favor of workers only around half of the time. And in over one third of those cases in which workers won, they never recovered their stolen wages.
Waffle House workers have been fighting back against the company, demanding not only an end to wage theft but also safety at work in response to violence at the fast food chain that has gone viral on social media. Workers feel that their employer is not doing enough to protect them from violent customers, as well as natural disasters. Workers are also demanding an end to mandatory meal deductions (Waffle House deducts a “meal credit” of at least $3 per shift whether or not workers eat), as well as a living wage of $25 per hour.
Waffle House workers recently won a historic raise which the company dubbed “single largest additional investment in our workforce in the entire 68-year history,” although workers claim this is a result of labor organizing, not their employer’s benevolence. Workers also say these raises are not enough compared to their demand of $25 per hour. The company’s tipped wage for servers can run as low as $3 per hour.
Source: peoplesdispatch.org, September 19, 2024