While I myself am not in the food industry (a Minister here), the State of Florida is currently in the process of working on legislation to CUT the hourly salary of servers and bartenders from $4.65 to $2.13 an hour. From what I understand, this is not a 'mandatory' action that would affect every business in the state, however it is being pushed by and certainly would be enforced by most of, if not all of the large 'chain-style' restaurants & bars.
This bill is being pushed by the lobbyists for the 'chains' because they feel the waitstaff make 'more than enough tips' to cover their salaries above minimum wage. The 'chains' are complaining they do not have sufficient funds to pay their back-end staff (dishwashers, cooks, etc) because they are having to pay so much to the waitstaff.
I am sure that you are aware, there are many hours of the day and night, that waitstaff are on the clock and not making tips. Because Florida is a tourism state, many of our visitors are from countries that are NOT accustomed to tipping to begin with. This in itself, causes a big problem.
I don't know how much of an audience you have with Florida waitstaff, but I wanted to make your people aware of this legislative action. They NEED to contact their State Representatives and put a STOP this this action.
I hope this information helps, because our economy sucks as sit is and people quite honestly cannot and should not have to take pay cuts like this.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS !!!!!
Posted by Anthony Myers!!!
Tags: bartender, cut, florida, hourly, legislation, pay, server