The Numbers Behind the Philly Fight for Paid Sick Days

Restaurant Opportunity Center

Behind the Kitchen Door, released two weeks ago by Philly ROC, is a 65-page report conducted by talking to restaurant workers and employers and using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to put local working conditions into perspective.

The information reflects a tone which argues restaurant workers should be provided paid sick days and a higher tipped minimum wage, among other things, using statistics regarding employees working sick because they don’t earn enough to take time off.

Read the Full Article
Read the ROC Report

Week After Philly Restaurant Report, Fight Begins in City Hall

Oct 18, 2012 by Randy LoBasso

"Behind the Kitchen Door: The Hidden Reality of Philadelphia’s Thriving Restaurant Industry” reveals shocking evidence of injustice and inequality in one of Philadelphia’s fastest growing economic sectors

Just a week after the Philadelphia Restaurant Opportunity Center released its “Behind the Kitchen Door” report, which details the wages and conditions under which restaurant employees work in Philadelphia, the fight for new workplace standards is on. But advocates have their work ahead of them.

To read the whole story, please visit Philadelphia Weekly's page.

Call your Councilmembers about earned sick days today!

Philly Restaurant Industry Wages Continue to Fall: Workers Faced with No Choice

Lack of health care, paid sick time and low morale push employees to the brink.

“Diana A.” is a restaurant worker in Philadelphia like hundreds of others.

And like hundreds of other restaurant workers, Diana has no access to paid sick time.  92.8% of restaurant workers cannot earn sick time, which is above the national average. Fewer have access to employer-sponsored health benefits. With real wages decreasing and cost-of-living increasing, many restaurant workers are faced with no choice but to work sick or face being terminated if they do need to call in sick.

 Read Diana’s Story by clicking the link below:

http://weeklypress.com/phillys-restaurant-industry-is-hot-but-its-jobs-are-not-report-says-p3359-1.htm

Find Out What is Going On Behind the Kitchen Door in Philadelphia!

Find out what is going on "Behind The Kitchen Door" of the Philadelphia restaurant industry!

You are invited to take part in a free summit premiering a ground breaking study on Philadelphia restaurant industry. Take a look "Behind the Kitchen Door" to find out what the future holds for workers in the fastest growing sector of our nation's economy.

RSVP here!

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Philadelphia will reveal the shocking state of restaurants as work places in our city and give concrete examples of how city leaders, restauranteers and restaurant workers can collaborate to improve jobs and our economy.

The "Behind The Kitchen Door Summit" will be a “must see” event for elected leaders, non-profit professionals, academics, reporters, activists and advocates who care about our local economy. If you work on issues like regional economic development, job readiness, immigration, public policy, poverty, public health and equal opportunities for women and minorities, then you will want to be sure not to miss the Behind The Kitchen Door Summit.

Participants will be treated to lunch and beverages. The event is free and space is extremely limited. RSVP required.

What- Behind The Kitchen Door Summit
When- October 10 at 11:30 a.m.
Where- Tequila's Restaurant, 1602 Locust St.

Watch a video trailer about our research and forthcoming book here... http://rocunited.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4d51544c13d767c0de17da828&id=85c138da75&e=f76692c4dd

New Article in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Leave rules in city enough to make advocates sick"

This story was only available in the print edition of the Inquirer.

Dina Yarmus' Comment in Support of Earned Sick Days: "Everyone including restaurant workers deserve sick days."

My name is Dina Yarmus. I was born and raised in North East Philadelphia. I went to Ursinus college right outside of Philadelphia and this past year have settled in South Philadelphia. My father was a school teacher in Philadelphia’s public schools. My mother was a school nurse. My older sister, my boyfriend and I, like many others in this city are Servers; Restaurant workers.

I, unlike my sister, am one of the lucky ones. I have sick days. I am one of a handful of unionized restaurant workers in this city. I work at Tavern 17 at the Radisson Warwick Hotel and I am a member of a strong and proud Union,Unite Here Local 274.

What does this mean? It means a group of brave workers who worked there before me did something very similar to what we are trying to do right now. They fought for what was right. They fought for people to be treated like human beings. They fought for people to have sick days.

Restaurant work often is long hours without consistent days off. It involves long days on your feet, often doing the work of two people, and the emotional labor of keeping guests happy.

We sometimes need a day off.

We are interacting with many different people and their germs everyday.

We sometimes get sick.

So, I will submit to you three things:

1. Everyone including restaurant workers deserve sick days.
2. The public is better served by a social policy that doesn’t pressure working class people to come to work even when they’re sick and talk to you at your tables and touch your food.
3. Businesses can afford to pay sick days as is evidenced by my own employer that continues to be profitable and even grow despite the recession.

I am proud to be here in support of paid sick days. Thank you.

Paid Sick Leave Advances in Philadelphia

(By Amy Traub at DMI)

Across the nation, the attack on workers’ rights continues to mount: in Missouri, a state senator proposed rolling back child labor laws and reducing enforcement, while legislation to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers moved forward in Ohio.

But in the midst of the grim news and tough defensive battles, some city policymakers are moving in a more positive direction: asserting that what working people hit hard by the recession need is greater protection and more recognition of basic workplace rights. Philadelphia is one bright spot.

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Public Health and Human Services voted to approve legislation guaranteeing a small number of paid sick days to every person employed in Philadelphia. An estimated two in five private sector workers in the city currently lack this right. Based on San Francisco’s successful law guaranteeing paid sick leave, the Philadelphia bill would enable low-wage employees to avoid losing wages when illness strikes and they need to care for themselves or their children.

I had the opportunity to contribute testimony at the committee hearing. I spoke after a representative from the city’s Commerce Department, who was taken to task by legislators for failing to provide hard evidence for his claim that paid sick leave would burden businesses and harm Philadelphia’s economic competitiveness. Drawing on a study I conducted last year on paid sick leave in Philadelphia, I offered data on the relative success of San Francisco’s economy in the wake of paid sick leave legislation and noted:

In places where paid sick leave has been implemented, there is a significant divergence between predictions of economic doom beforehand and the actual impact. For example, in San Francisco the restaurant industry trade group initially asserted that the policy would substantially increase small business costs and discourage employment. Yet now that the policy has been in place for a number of years, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association calls the law “successful” and “the best public policy for the least cost,” acknowledging that employees have not abused paid sick leave. A top official at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, another original opponent to paid sick leave, admitted that “it has not been a huge issue that we have heard from our members about… I don’t think it’s quite on the minds of employers.”

Rather than predicting negative outcomes once again, I suggest that looking at the concrete evidence of how this policy has operated in practice is the best way to predict the impact in Philadelphia.

To read the rest of the testimony, click here.

Profitability and Workplace Flexibility Can Go Hand in Hand, Even for Small Businesses

Earned sick time is often considered a "worker-friendly" policy.  Unfortunately, in some circles, "worker-friendly" is synonymous with "anti-business."  However, as many businesses across the country have pointed out, sick employees do not make for high productivity or good business practices. 

In a recent article on TheHill.com's Congress Blog, two small business owners point out that "we want workers to stay home when they’re sick and not infect others – and they can’t if the time isn’t paid, or if taking off routinely results in discipline."  They point to the need for national minimum standards "akin to the minimum wage – we exceed the basement to get a competitive advantage in attracting great employees, and our competitors can’t undercut that with bad employment practices."

Earned sick time is one of many minimum standards that can benefit workers, businesses, and the economy.   Since an earned sick time bill became law in San Francisco in 2007, both the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association have said that earned sick time had not caused undue hardships for members.  The Executive Director of the Restaurant Association has gone so far as to say "paid sick days 'is the best public policy for the least cost.'"

As we continue to examine the need for earned sick time, we need to hear from more businesses such as the two who wrote TheHill.com's blog post.  Just recently, we heard from the Health Federation of Philadelphia, who believes earned sick time "keeps us competitive as an employer, contributes to employee loyalty and, thereby cuts down on turn-over."

If your business provides earned sick time, please let us know, and help to show that worker-friendly policies are also business-friendly, even in today's economy.

image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/scelera/2243429936/in/photostream/ // http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Article - Survey: Two-thirds of restaurant employees come to work sick

Last week the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review included an article that looked at the frequency with which restaurant workers come to work sick. With the vast majority of restaurant workers unable to earn any paid sick days, many have to choose between going to work sick and losing their pay or possibly their job. When faced with that difficult decision many will work sick possibly spreading their illness to the customer.

Below is an excerpt of the article:

It's possible your next meal out could come with a side of sniffles.

Two-thirds of restaurant employees — including cooks, waiters and waitresses — admitted to working while ill, according to a recent survey by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a New York-based restaurant workers advocacy group.

To read the complete article, please click here.



Image courtesy of: http://unadorned.org/morningpaper/archives/2003/07/index.html

New Report - Serving While Sick: High Risks and Low Benefits for the Nation's Restaurant Workforce, and Their Impact on the Consumer

The Restaurant Opportunities Center United just released a new report, Serving While Sick, which draws from the analysis of over 4,000 surveys of restaurant workers nationwide. Throughout the country restaurant workers reported very high rates of injury and illness and very low rates of benefits to cope with any such illness or injury.

The survey found that 87.7 percent of restaurant workers reported not receiving any paid sick time and more than 63 percent reported cooking and serving food while sick. Some workers reported working while sick because they could not afford to take a day off while others feared losing their job if they did not show up for work. Workers in one state reported that coming to the restaurant sick had consequences beyond themselves as 19.9 percent reported causing other workers to becomes sick and 12 percent reported that they coughed or sneezed into food they were preparing or serving.

With the work that restaurant workers do in preparing and serving food to the general public, the lack of paid sick days and the high percentage of workers working while sick is not only a personal but a public health concern.

To read the report please click here.