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Protect My Tips

Save Our Tips

Congress is considering eliminating the tip credit while raising the minimum wage to $15. 

As a server you probably know that restaurants work on razor-thin profit margins—usually between 3 and 5 percent. A dramatic increase in labor costs for tipped employees forces one or more of a few bad options; either restaurants raise prices on customers (who aren’t going to like it), reduce staff, eliminate tipping or close the restaurant.

You can help by sending an email to Congress stating that you are a server in NM and you want to keep your tips.

We won this fight in the NM Legislature in 2019. We can win again!

 

Send an Email to Congress
OUR MISSION

Preserve and Protect Tipping and Tip Credit in New Mexico

The Problem:

On one side there are people who want to get rid of the tip wage. They argue that it is demeaning and encourages sexual harassment.

On the other side the tip credit allows restaurant owners to keep labor costs down, while keeping dining affordable for customers. If the tip credit is removed, restaurants will be forced to raise their prices drastically to help cover costs. Driving menu prices up has a direct correlation with losing business.

The Reality:

Activist groups often misleadingly point to the $2.13 base wage for tipped employees such as restaurant servers, and claim that they earn less than the minimum wage. This isn’t true: Tipped employees are guaranteed to earn at least the minimum wage and typically earn much more. Census Bureau data show that the average hourly wage for a restaurant employee earning tip income is $13.08, with top earners bringing in $24 an hour or more. If the tipped minimum wage is increased, many of these jobs and restaurants will disappear.

New Mexico Servers Want to Keep Their Tips

 

      Read Their Stories…

Brenda – Atrisco Cafe Santa Fe Server for 15 years

Mi nombre es Brenda. Trabajo en la industria del restaurant desde el 2003. Soy de México, pero radico aquí en Santa Fe. Son ya más de 15 años que trabajo con la familia Country. Empecé en el Tomasita’s y ahora estoy en el Atrisco. Por empezar, soy madre soltera, tengo...

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Hear and See Their Stories…

Get Involved

Get Texts on Alerts

We will alert you by text when you need to take action. We will make these as easy and painless as possible but we can’t do it without you.

What Drives Us

Our Mission

To preserve and protect tips and tip credit in New Mexico.

We are all trying to make the point with legislators that workers who are now well-paid with strong earning potential would move to a system in which they receive an hourly wage provided by their employer. Because very few restaurants could afford to pay workers $15/hour PLUS tips, many would lay off servers or compensate by switching to a flat “service charge” that would be distributed as the employer wishes.

Find Your Local Legislator

If you sign our petition we will keep you up-to-date on which legislators to contact. While they are in their home districts you can contact them yourself.  Many of these legislators are your customers. Don’t hesitate to contact them on your behalf.

Questions to Consider

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 How much do you earn an hour on average, including tips?

Would you prefer a higher base minimum wage of $15 if it meant giving up your tips?

Would you still keep this job if you didn’t receive tips?

Have you experienced sexual harassment from customers because you are a tipped employee?

Have you ever had a situation where your tip income is not enough to cover the minimum wage or where your employer did not make up the wage shortage?

BLOG Posts

Featured News and Updates

NYC Restaurants Slash Staff over $15 Minimum Wage

Breitbart|by KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ|21 Jan 2019. New York City restaurants, feeling the pinch of trying to make ends meet, are slashing their staff after a state law that took effect at the end of 2018 is mandating restaurants with 11 or more workers to pay a $15 an hour...

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Servers do not want a tipped minimum wage increase

By Joshua Chaisson - Santa Fe New Mexican - January 14, 2019. Before new New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham even gave her inaugural address, Democrats in the state House prefiled two bills that would increase the state’s minimum wage. While there will be much...

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Hollywood Told to Shove it By Restaurant Workers

Sarah Jessica Parker, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and more than a dozen other A-listers were told to shove it by 500 restaurant workers in New York who signed an open letter to the actresses. The missive is a response to a letter that the Hollywood elites sent...

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Help Servers Keep Their Tips

Help Servers Keep Their Tips Activist groups often misleadingly point to the $2.13 base wage for tipped employee wages, and claim that they earn less than the  minimum wage. This isn’t true: Tipped employees are guaranteed to earn at least the minimum wage and...

read more

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