Last month, Veatch grantee One Fair Wage—a national organization seeking to end subminimum wages for service workers in the United States—held a digital memorial service to commemorate the sacrifices of workers in the service industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During her comments, Saru Jayaraman, founder and President of One Fair Wage, reminded viewers of the countless sacrifices made by service industry workers, who bore a disproportionate brunt of the impact of the health and economic crisis. Millions of restaurant workers lost their jobs, were denied unemployment insurance, and were forced to return to work in unsafe conditions. Thousands lost their lives.
Jayaraman also took the opportunity to uplift new data on service workers’ experience throughout the pandemic. “What we heard from the 300,000 workers who applied for relief to our pandemic relief fund was that tips went down, because sales went down,” she said, referring to the $24 million the organization raised to support 50,000 workers who qualified for no other safety net. “Two-thirds said they couldn’t get unemployment insurance because they were told their wages were too low.”
A new report by One Fair Wage, released the same day as the memorial, estimates around 12,000 service workers’ lives were lost as a result of being forced to go back to work before they felt safe—more than any other industry outside of healthcare. “We need to honor the 12,000 restaurant workers lost to Covid by fighting to eradicate the subminimum wage,” Jayaraman said.
The report also helps to quantify the disproportionate ways in which women were more deeply impacted by the crises than men. According to the results of a survey, the group found nearly 1 in 4 women tipped workers reported an increase in gender-based harassment post-pandemic. Similarly, half of women surveyed from states with subminimum wages reported their tips had decreased since the start of the pandemic compared to 38% of men.
In addition to Jayaraman’s comments, the service included live remarks from service workers, advocates, and elected officials. “When Covid hit, everyone was laid off or left with next to nothing in wages,” said Sarena Powell, a restaurant worker. “I got sick, and as a single mom, I took Covid home to my kids.” She had no choice, she said further, since she did not qualify for unemployment. “Four years later, they’re saying the economy is better—but I’m having to work double jobs to take care of my kids.”
Senator Bernie Sanders also joined the live stream, and took the opportunity to endorse One Fair Wage’s call for a living wage for service workers. “People in the service industry and elsewhere should not be forced to work for starvation wages,” Senator Sanders said during his portion of the event. “We’ve got to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.”
One Fair Wage is continuing to collect the stories and experiences of workers in the service industry through an ongoing survey—the responses will be used to continue to advocate for better wages and treatment of all service workers. You can watch the entire digital memorial here.