Big Labor’s Attack On Tipping Because Tips Are “Institutionalized Sexism”

By Ryan Williams

The practice of tipping – especially popular in the United States – has a new and formidable enemy. Inexplicable as it may seem, Big Labor has set its sights on the custom of tipping – an institution that has helped move millions of workers into the middle class. But there’s good reason why activists like Saru Jayaraman, one of the labor leaders attempting to end the practice of showing gratitude to service industry workers, have targeted a practice that most of us take for granted.

Ms. Jayaraman is co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-U), a union front group known for both its hostile protests against restaurants and its aggressive lobbying for Big Labor’s agenda. While most restaurant workers favor tips, Ms. Jayaraman dismisses the notion of pay for performance. In an interview with the University of California, Berkeley’s alumni magazine, she said: “Ultimately, this system of tipping needs to go.”

She has repeated that position several times, peppering her arguments with inflammatory rhetoric. As reported in the SeattleTimes,Jayaraman labeled tips as “institutionalized sexism” before saying “the best option … is to eliminate tips.”

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