Del. tipped workers make less than $3 hour, increase proposed
DELAWARE – Lawmakers are fighting for waiters and waitresses in the First State because believe it or not their minimum wage right now is less than $3 an hour.
“I think it should be changed so that someone can actually live,” says Steve Gough, a Delaware resident.
“That’s unbelievable and it’s way too low. I know that for sure,” says Ralph Purnell, a Delaware resident.
That hourly rate hasn’t changed since 1983.
“I’m shocked. I’m shocked that it hasn’t been raised. I’m shocked that it hasn’t even been looked at since 1983. And I think it’s a fine time for it to be looked at and for it to be increased,” says Tanya Gonzalez, a Delaware resident.
House Bill 252, proposed on Thursday, would require that tipped workers not be paid less than 65 percent of Delaware’s minimum wage. That means, right now, waiters would make about $5.70 an hour, before tips. But residents tell 47 ABC, that’s still not enough to make ends meet.
“By the time you work and they take out Social Security taxes, you don’t have anything left at the end of the day,” says Gough.
While supporters say the pay increase would help workers, they also admit that it might impact small businesses.
“It might impact how many employees the employer has. I’m hoping that that’s not going to be an impact, that they don’t decrease, because then the service for the restaurant and their business might change,” says Gonzalez.
But locals tell 47 ABC wait staff are hard workers, often supporting their own families, and deserve more than what they’re getting now.
“The waitress is doing all the work. Somebody’s got to step up and take care of the waitresses,” says Purnell.
47 ABC also reached out to almost a dozen restaurants but many of them did not feel comfortable commenting on the possible increase in minimum wage.
If the bill passes, wait staff would make about $5.70 cents an hour. But then when the State’s minimum wage goes up this year in October, to $9.25 an hour, they would make about $6 an hour.
