At Brothers Drake Meadery, Sen. Brown, Rep. Beatty Join Labor Secretary To Call For Increase In Federal Minimum Wage

Press Release

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-3), and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez called on Congress to strengthen the middle class and promote economic opportunity for all Americans by raising both the federal minimum wage and the federal tipped minimum wage -- which stands at just $2.13 per hour. At Brothers Drake Meadery in Columbus, Brown, Beatty, and Perez highlighted the economic benefits of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three steps and provide the first minimum wage increase to tipped employees in more than 20 years.

"Every year, millions of Americans living on a tipped wage are working hard and taking responsibility, but are lucky just to get by," Brown said. "Earning a base of $2.13 an hour, even with tips, isn't very much--not when you need to put food on the table, fill your gas tank, send your children to school, and provide a safe place for them to live. Every hardworking American deserves the opportunity to earn a living wage. Passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act and raising the tipped minimum wage is a step in the right direction."

According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the minimum wage has lost more than 30 percent of its spending power over the last forty years. Brown's Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from its current $7.25--in three steps of 95 cents--then provide for automatic annual increases linked to changes in the cost of living.

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that raising the federal minimum wage for both tipped and non-tipped workers would lift 4.6 million people out of poverty, with the potential to boost GDP by nearly $33 billion and generate 140,000 new jobs over three years as workers spend their raises in their local businesses and communities. Workers who are paid a minimum wage in Ohio earn only $16,000 per year, which is more than $3,000 below the poverty level for a family of three. The Fair Minimum Wage Act would boost the minimum wage to $21,000, lifting families above the poverty line.

When the tipped minimum wage was first established, it was 50 percent of the regular minimum wage, and at its peak, 60 percent during the 1980s. Today it stands at a mere 29 percent of the regular minimum wage. The Fair Minimum Wage Act would gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped workers--which currently stands at just $2.13 an hour--for the first time in more than 20 years, to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage equaling $7.07 per hour.

On 2/13, "Tipped Minimum Wage Day of Action," Brown joined Saru Jayaraman, Co-Founder & Co-Director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United to highlight new data by ROC United that details the "State of the Tipped Worker." According to the data, tipped workers have more than twice the poverty rate of the American workforce as a whole; and restaurant servers are nearly twice as likely to depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed their families. Just in Ohio, according to further ROC United research, there were 50,000 tipped workers in 2012 earning at or below the state tipped minimum wage of $3.85; and in 2012, there were 201,000 non-tipped workers earning at or below the state tipped minimum wage of $7.70. Brown also introduced a Senate Resolution calling for increased wages for tipped employees and designating 2/13 as "$2.13 Day."

Over the past year, Brown has met with several Ohio businesses that support an increase in the federal minimum wage, including the Yankee Kitchen, a diner in Youngstown; Grounds for Thought, a coffeehouse and bookstore in Bowling Green; Dempsey's, a restaurant in Columbus; Brothers Printing, a print shop in Cleveland; and Synergistic Systems, a computer consulting company also in the Cleveland area.

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