Queens pols push One Fair Wage in Albany

Queens and state elected officials “served” members of a rally on Monday in support of a bill that would raise the minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers in New York State. Photo via State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas/Twitter

By Ryan Schwach

As the new year’s legislative session begins, Queens electeds are beginning to advocate for bills they want to see passed and signed in the upcoming session.

On Monday, State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas rallied with advocates in Albany for her One Fair Wage bill, which would equally compensate tipped workers like restaurant staffers.

For decades, tipped workers, mainly restaurant workers, have been paid below minimum wage in lieu of receiving tips. The One Fair Wage bill would bring restaurant workers’ wages on par with the rest of the state, on top of tips. It would also allow tip sharing with kitchen workers, also known as the “back of house.”

“We have to make sure that we're raising the floor, that everyone can make one fair wage,” González-Rojas, herself a one time restaurant hostess, said on Monday. “We want to make sure that we're striking a good balance and that we're ensuring that every single worker can work in the industry, serve our communities, and go back and feed their families and how's their families and live with dignity.”

The bill is sponsored by State Senator Robert Jackson on the Senate side, who also spoke of his hopes for the bill on Tuesday.

“One thing is passing it another thing the governor signed into law, but another thing is implementing,” he said. “Those that don't want to go along with what's best for the people of your state of New York State, they're going to be in trouble.”

Jackson called the current sub-minimum wage situation with restaurant workers “wage theft” and said it was long due for change.

“There's a moment where we must answer the call of countless service workers who have long suffered under the burden of subminimum wages,” he said. “It is time to answer the call.”

If it were to be passed and signed, the bill would gradually go into effect over the course of five years.

According to the bill’s text, next year’s cash wage for food service workers would be $14.88, going up to an even $17 by 2026, and starting at the beginning of 2027, the cash wage could not be less than the state’s minimum wage.

A similar bill was implemented in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, in October and goes into effect in a similar five-year timeline.

That five-year phase in is a key aspect of the bill, González-Rojas says, since it makes it easier for small businesses to keep up with the rise in wage.

“One important point about one fair wage, it's going to happen over five years, so those in the restaurant industry that are saying we can’t do it, it’s going to bring down our industry and we're going to go out of business, the bill is mindful to give time for restaurant workers to adjust,” González-Rojas said. “We even included a forgivable loan to help restaurant workers move towards a one fair wage. We're really mindful of the owners and the workers.”

The bill would also bring in tip-sharing with the back of house and kitchen workers, who historically are left out of the tip pool at restaurants.

“I actually started off as a line cook, and I very quickly learned that if you wanted to make a little bit more money, you had to go to the front of the house,” said Marvin Gonzalez, who spoke at the rally on Tuesday. “So, since then, I've worked as a barback, I worked as a server, and then most currently working as a bartender.”

Gonzalez said that although some places he has worked in have implemented that form of tip pooling without the law, that the practice is still few and far between.

“It's really made a huge difference in the dynamics of the workplace,” he said. “In front of the house, the back of the house can be very segregated in a work environment. It can create a lot of resentments, it just can create an environment where you don't know your coworkers.”

The bill has support from other Queens elected officials in both bodies, including Senators Leroy Comrie, Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymembers David Weprin, Zohran Mamdani, Jessica Ramos, Nily Rozic and Jeff Aubry.