Restaurant workers deserve a stronger guaranteed wage and the opportunity to earn tips.

For decades, tipped employees have been paid a separate, lower minimum wage because customer tips are expected to make up the difference. But the cost of living has risen dramatically, while the tipped wage structure has failed to keep pace.

And there’s another issue: many tipped employees don’t even keep all of the tips they earn.

Servers may be required to “tip out” bartenders, bussers, food runners, hosts, and other employees based on their sales or tips. That means a worker can provide the service, earn the gratuity, and still have a portion of it redistributed before they ever take it home.

Support staff absolutely deserve fair compensation too, but their wages should not depend primarily on another employee surrendering part of their tips.

Tips should reward good service. They should not replace fair wages, subsidize payroll, or become the primary system for compensating multiple employees throughout a restaurant.

This petition is not about ending tipping. It is about modernizing an outdated system by:

•Increasing the tipped subminimum wage nationwide
•Preserving customers’ ability to tip for good service
•Creating greater transparency and fairness around mandatory tip-outs
•Ensuring employers take greater responsibility for properly compensating all restaurant employees
•Restaurant workers deserve predictable income. Customers should not carry the primary burden of payroll. And tipped employees should understand exactly where their tips are going and why.

It’s time to raise the tipped subminimum wage and reform the tip-out system so restaurant workers can earn fair wages while still benefiting from the tips they earn.

Sign this petition if you believe restaurant workers deserve a more transparent, stable, and equitable compensation system.