Do you want more stories like this to land straight in your inbox? Subscribe to Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays, by clicking here.
Food workers in the United States face challenging conditions that take a toll on their physical and mental wellbeing. For too long, they have often been compensated unfairly for their labor, but advocacy organizations and policymakers are working to change this.
According to the Living Wage Calculator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the living wage for a family of four in the U.S. is just over US$25 per hour. But the federal minimum wage sits at just US$7.25 per hour, and employees who earn tips can be paid as low as US$2.13 per hour if tips push their income above the minimum wage mark.
“There’s really only one future for [the food] industry, and it has to be providing life-sustaining wages,” says Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage.
That’s why organizations like One Fair Wage are fighting to eliminate subminimum wages, and fortunately, they are seeing some positive results. Chicago’s city council also passed an ordinance last year to bring tipped workers’ wages up to parity with the city’s standard minimum wage of US$15.80. And in California, policymakers increased the minimum wage for many fast food workers to US$20.
Read more about how the food movement is fighting for workers in a new piece on Forbes by clicking HERE.
Photo courtesy of Jazmin Quaynor, Unsplash
