{"id":501,"date":"2011-11-17T15:31:06","date_gmt":"2011-11-17T18:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/?p=501"},"modified":"2011-11-17T16:12:19","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T19:12:19","slug":"philadelphia-passes-gratuity-protection-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/?p=501","title":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA PASSES GRATUITY PROTECTION BILL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Restaurant workers rejoice at victory party after winning added protection against wage theft. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ABjVTUufpns\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Philadelphia (Philly ROC) and their supporters gather at a party being billed as \u201cOccupyFergie\u2019s\u201d at Fergie\u2019s Pub following the passage of legislation that will protect their gratuities from being stolen by their employers.<\/p>\n<p>Councilman James Kenney, a former restaurant worker, who was elected to city official in 1991, sponsored the Gratuity Protection Bill that makes the deduction of credit card fees from tips left by diners illegal. The majority of restaurant workers are low-waged workers with an average wage of only $14,000 per year and a minimum tipped wage of only $2.83 per hour for servers in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot having to worry about whether credit card fees are being taken out of my tips is going to make a big difference in my life. I know it might not sound like a lot of money, but it\u2019s money that I earn from being a server. And every bit helps me take care of my family,\u201d says one veteran restaurant worker who requested anonymity for fear of losing her job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loose at least $5 per shift, that is at least $1300 a year. That\u2019s a huge amount for me.\u201d she states.<\/p>\n<p>Philly ROC Coordinator, Fabricio Rodriguez expressed, \u201cThis is a great step in the right direction for Philadelphia restaurant workers. Servers, bartenders, and other front of the house restaurant workers, deserve, just like everyone else, the wages they have earned. No one should have their tips stolen from them.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>At the OccupyFergie\u2019s party Phily ROC announced that their new worker center would plan to continue trying to prove the restaurant industry. Andrea Lemoins, ROC Philly Coordinator, toasted the victory and spoke of envisioning a restaurant industry with shared prosperity, \u201chis business can be profitable and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Restaurant workers rejoice at victory party after winning added protection against wage theft. Members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Philadelphia (Philly ROC) and their supporters gather at a party being billed as \u201cOccupyFergie\u2019s\u201d at Fergie\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class='more-link' href='http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/?p=501'>Read the Post<span class='screen-reader-text'>PHILADELPHIA PASSES GRATUITY PROTECTION BILL<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":504,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thatfinalstraw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}