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Saru Jayaraman, a national leader in the movement to raise standards for workers in the hospitality industry, will discuss “Tipping Point: Why the Minneapolis Minimum Wage Debate Matters Nationally” Tuesday at the University of Minnesota.
Her talk will take place from 10 to 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 21, in the 3M Auditorium on the main level of the Carlson School of Management, 320 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis. It is free and open to the public.
Jayaraman is the co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded ROC in New York. The group has organized restaurant workers to win workplace justice campaigns, conducted research and policy work, partnered with responsible restaurants and launched cooperatively-owned restaurants. ROC now has 10,000 members in 19 cities nationwide.
In this talk, Jayaraman will explore the little known history of tipping in the United States, as well as the general history of the food industry. She will place contemporary minimum wage debates in Minneapolis and Minnesota in a national context of the fight to improve pay and working conditions for all workers. She will describe how having tips deducted from wages affects workers in the 43 states that allow this practice, including the disproportionate effect on women.
Jayaraman’s talk is sponsored by the Center for Human Resources & Labor Studies at the Carlson School and co-sponsored by the Labor Education Service, 15 Now Minnesota, CTUL, MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, SEIU Minnesota State Council, ISAIAH and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation.