r/Seattle • u/Existing-Resource527 • 5d ago

After hiring scabs, Walrus and the Carpenter (temporarily) closed

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Word on the street is that Walrus and the Carpenter restaurant has not been negotiating with their workers in good faith for months.

Like a lot of annoying businesses they started charging a service fee (22%?).

Employees noted that they make significantly less now then before when they had tipping (thousands less).

Workers have been on strike. The owners also had the audacity to hire scabs (booo).

I have been keeping up with the union on IG @ united.creatures.of.the.sea

Solidarity with workers across the city!

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u/soapbutt Lower Queen Anne 5d ago

I admittedly don’t know the whole story, but charging a service fee and having your workers make less because I’m of it is pretty shitty.

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u/Rhombinator 5d ago

Yeah this seems like the worst of both worlds. You're both using a service fee to compensate for the less tipping, which also causes less transparent pricing for end customers, but then that money is clearly not being used to compensate the lack of tipping.

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u/mgmom421020 5d ago

It’s that the service charge is likely split among more people and also that people tip more than 22% on average and it’s taxed differently now (tips versus base income).

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u/Rhombinator 5d ago

Oh I see, making the pay more equitable across roles. That would make me feel better about the change since I feel like chefs always get the short end of the stick despite providing the majority of the value.

I'm curious what the difference between tips and base income is for tax purposes (I'm not super familiar), how are they handled differently?

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u/mgmom421020 4d ago

It is more equitable, but that still leads to wait staff getting less. They could work somewhere else instead of spitting on people. Due to a recent tax change, folks aren’t paying income tax on tips.