Jersey Shore restaurants are complaining that they cannot find sufficient help to work as servers and bussers and are now blaming the Biden stimulus plan for enhanced unemployment benefits. So, how much do servers and bussers earn? If you look at the websites offering jobs, you’ll see the grand fixed amount of $5 per hour plus tips which the restaurants claim will get a worker $18 to $22 an hour – but there’s no guarantee.
Then there are the non-tip employees who earn minimum wage of $12 per hour in New Jersey but there are exemptions for seasonal and “small” employers who can pay their employees $10.30 per hour, and college and high school students even less. Even if you were a single person, how would you live on such a measly wage?
In the past Jersey Shore employers have also relied on foreign students here on a short term visa, but the pandemic closed many embassies processing those visa requests as well as stiffening the requirements. One restaurant chain has said it would pay $15 per hour, certainly a move towards economic justice. Shouldn’t more do the same?
Prayer for the Day
God of justice, who created us all as your children,
You gave us eyes to see and ears to hear;
You call us to reflect justice in our dealing with others
But we often fail the most vulnerable who serve us.
Move us from our failure of ourselves and of you,
So we are able to reflect your justice in the world around us.
In the name of him who came to open us to your truth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The minimum wage should be a living wage.
Jon Ossoff, U. S. Senator from Georgia, elected 2020
The stories we tell about who we are as a nation, and the values that define us, are not fixed. They change as facts change. They change as the balance of power in society changes. Which is why regular people, not just governments, need to be active participants in this process of retelling and reimagining our collective stories, symbols, and histories.
Naomi Klein, American political analyst, from On Fire
Seek good and not evil, that you ay live;
And so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate;
Amos 5: 14-15