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Posted on Jul 1, 2014

What Do These 9 Facts About The Restaurant Industry Have To Do With Civil Rights?

During the Civil Rights Movement, restaurants were a major site of the many sit-ins challenging the system of official segregation that denied patrons of color their human dignity. Today, fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act on July 2nd, 1964, we are fighting a system of de facto racial and gender segregation to reclaim dignity for workers of color throughout the restaurant industry.

by rocunited

Community Brand Publisher

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What Do These 9 Facts About The Restaurant Industry Have To Do With Civil Rights?

1. When applying to the same ‘front of the house’ position, white male servers are TWICE AS LIKELY to get a job offer than applicants of color.

2. The restaurant industry is the absolute lowest paying industry in the country AND the largest employer of people of color.

3. The pay gap between Black and White restaurant workers is MORE THAN $4 AN HOUR.

4. Workers of color are disproportionately concentrated in the industry’s lowest paying positions, meaning that the majority of 'back of the house' positions (cooks, dishwashers) are dominated by people of color.

5. The typical full-time, year-round female server is paid just 68% of what her male counterpart is paid.

6. The gender pay gap is even larger for women of color. Black female servers are paid only 60% of what all male servers are paid.

7. More than 70% of tipped restaurant workers (earning a base wage as low as $2.13 an hour) are women.

8. Female servers face FIVES TIMES MORE sexual harassment than the general female workforce.

9. As MLK and civil rights activists have said, "Workers rights ARE civil rights," -- perhaps nowhere is that more urgent or relevant than the current state of the restaurant industry.

What Do These 9 Facts About The Restaurant Industry Have To Do With Civil Rights?

1. When applying to the same ‘front of the house’ position, white male servers are TWICE AS LIKELY to get a job offer than applicants of color.

2. The restaurant industry is the absolute lowest paying industry in the country AND the largest employer of people of color.

3. The pay gap between Black and White restaurant workers is MORE THAN $4 AN HOUR.

4. Workers of color are disproportionately concentrated in the industry’s lowest paying positions, meaning that the majority of 'back of the house' positions (cooks, dishwashers) are dominated by people of color.

5. The typical full-time, year-round female server is paid just 68% of what her male counterpart is paid.

6. The gender pay gap is even larger for women of color. Black female servers are paid only 60% of what all male servers are paid.

7. More than 70% of tipped restaurant workers (earning a base wage as low as $2.13 an hour) are women.

8. Female servers face FIVES TIMES MORE sexual harassment than the general female workforce.

9. As MLK and civil rights activists have said, "Workers rights ARE civil rights," -- perhaps nowhere is that more urgent or relevant than the current state of the restaurant industry.

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