Service Workers: An Employee Handbook in Every Restaurant

by Thad Eckard

Some restaurant workers in Asheville say they have had quite enough and are ready for a change.

They recently formed the Asheville Sustainable Restaurant Workforce, with the goal of improving the economic and human rights of full-service-restaurant workers in Asheville.

They hope to make that happen “through outreach, advocacy, and action,” explained Alia Todd, a 19-year veteran of the restaurant industry.

“We are not necessarily a direct-action group. We are an advocacy group trying to engage members of our community for restaurant workers,” Todd said.

About 35 restaurant workers from several local businesses launched the project July 14 with a cookout at Carrier Park. Attendees voiced some ways their jobs could be better.

“Getting an employee handbook in every restaurant is one thing we’d like to see first,” Todd suggested. “Workers deserve that, even in the small, family-owned businesses.”

“Recognizing what are best practices at restaurants can set goals for restaurants to meet,” said Vicki Meath, executive director of Just Economics of Western North Carolina. “Unfortunately, the necessary minimum sometimes becomes the industry standard.”

“Many local businesses in Asheville recognize that their employees are partners in building a good business,” Meath continued. “Several restaurants in the area are committed to paying living wages, and we applaud them. Hearing additional ways that business owners can follow best practices developed by workers themselves can help a business retain happy and productive employees.”

“Having an actual paycheck stub to keep is one of those best practices,” Meath said, adding that she, too, spent years in the restaurant business.

The ASRW formed after Todd and others participated in a leadership class run by Just Economics.

“Voices for Economic Justice is a leadership development program for low-wage workers and low-income people designed to involve the voice of low-income people in issues that affect their lives,” Meath explained. “Just Economics developed this program in 2008 to raise the voice of low-income people in working to build a more just and sustainable local economy together.”

ASRW co-founder Jessi Steelman agrees. “Voices was an inspiration. We knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t know how to achieve it.” Steelman, who has been in the service industry for 15 years, recalled that her first job was serving food at IHOP when she was 16 years old. She stayed there for 11 years, serving as “back-of-house” trainer and manager, until she landed a position at a restaurant downtown.

“We learned what questions to ask and how to approach situations,” Steelman added. “We know that someone out there is always on our side.”

The way wages are calculated for tipped employees is different from the way minimum wage is figured, which adds to the confusion, Todd said.

“When the minimum wage was enacted during the 1930s, there was no distinction between tipped employees and non-tipped employees,” Todd explained. “There was only one minimum wage.”

“In 1960s, you see a divergence of the two, the first time employers are allowed a ‘tip credit.’ As the years have passed, the sub-minimum wage has lost value as the standard minimum wage has gone up,” Todd said. “The sub minimum wage has not been tied to the standard since 1991 and it has not been raised since that time.”

The next ASRW event will be Monday, August 18, from 4-7 p.m. at the Bywater club, 796 Riverside Drive in Asheville. The event is a social with food, open to anyone interested in improving the worklife of restaurant workers.

At that event, “We will be launching our Website and signing up members and supporters,” Todd said. “We hope to invite business owners and members of the non-profit community that align with our interests in sustainable work environments for full service restaurant workers.”

Asheville Sustainable Restaurant Workforce will host a social from 4-7 p.m. on Monday, August 18, 2014, at the Bywater Club, 796 Riverside Drive in Asheville. The event is open to anyone interested in improving the worklife of restaurant workers.