In Georgia, Waffle House workers only make $2.90 an hour. They make tips, too, but that’s all the company itself is obligated to pay them. Sort of! Because they also charge their workers $3.00 every shift for a meal regardless of whether or not they actually eat one.
Now that is quite the grift, especially considering that workers frequently do not have time to eat, are not allowed to take these meals to go, and are charged full-price if they do get something to bring home. The three dollar charge, to repeat, is not removed if they do not eat.
But workers are starting to stand up for themselves and against this grotesque policy with the help of the Union of Southern Service Workers, a labor union working to organize Waffle House employees.
On Monday, three workers in Conyers, Georgia, walked off the job after telling their manager that they were striking for the day in protest of this policy.
Via Huffington Post:
Cindy Smith, a server at a Waffle House in Conyers, Georgia, told HuffPost she usually doesn’t eat the meal she’s charged for. She typically works 30 to 40 hours a week and sees $12 to $15 taken out of her pay for the food, according to the union’s petition.
Smith said she and two other employees at her restaurant notified their manager on Monday that they were striking for the day. She said they walked out at 10 a.m. in the middle of their shift.
“Why am I paying for food I’m not eating?” asked Smith, 50, who publicly protested the policy in the fall. “Waffle House gets enough money out of us.”
In addition to an end to the “mandatory meal deductions,” employees also seek a guaranteed pay of $25 an hour and 24/7 security at restaurants, due to the fact that the viral trend of “Waffle House fights” has led to a startling number of people attacking employees in hopes of getting their 15 minutes of internet fame. Workers, especially those who work the late shift, are often in fear for their lives — and meanwhile, the chain is eating up all the free publicity.
Indeed, videos of people violently attacking Waffle House workers are so common that someone wrote an article in The New York Times on their artistic merits as compared to the works of Edward Hopper and I wish I were kidding but I’m actually not.
Worker safety is also frequently threatened by the chain’s policy of staying open during natural disasters, including hurricanes. Employees are frequently asked to even leave the restaurant in the middle of severe, dangerous weather to get paper towels and what have you.
These Waffle House workers are not the first to protest the policy. Last November, several employees went to the chain’s corporate headquarters to protest these policies and demand fair treatment.
Waffle House employees in South Carolina also went on strike over the same policies last year.
In no other circumstance would it be acceptable for someone to charge you for something you don’t eat and did not order. In no other circumstances would it be acceptable for an employer to do absolutely nothing about chronic incidents of violence or to expect people they pay $2.90 an hour to risk a hurricane to grab them some paper towels.
This all goes too far. Hopefully, as more workers stand up and demand better treatment, the powers that be at the Waffle House will see their way to, at the very least, not literally stealing from their employees.
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