Tipped New York Workers Call for Minimum Wage Reform

Workers in restaurants, nail salons and car washes rallied Friday to kick off a campaign to push for one single minimum wage — instead of the lower one tipped workers currently take home.

David Mertz, New York City director of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said car wash workers already face dangerous conditions on the job.

“On top of it all, they are told that they have to rely on the kindness of strangers to just put a little bit of money in that tip box. And they have to hope that that money in that tip box actually gets into their pockets,” he said. “It’s a terrible system. There’s no standard for tipping at car washes.”