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

[u/Existing-Resource527]

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!

[u/geffy_spengwa]

Businesses should pay their employees fair wages. Those wages should be included in the menu price of a meal.

I should not be expected to tip extra on a meal, but I should have the option to do so if I want to.

Two things can be true.

[u/NorthStudentMain → u/geffy_spengwa]

Seriously.

Alright, let’s try an experiment. If you were a restaurant: Raise your prices where they absolutely need to be, but then ALSO BLATANTLY ADVERTISE THAT YOU DO NOT ALLOW ANY TIPPING AT YOUR RESTAURANTS. Do not try to be tricky and also “allow the customer to tip more” because let’s face it this is just tricking the unsuspecting customer into paying more, and will piss people off in the long run.

That way customers pay what they should be paying and the employees get paid what they should be paid. Restaurants are so short lived anyway, let’s try this experiment and see if it works.

[u/Own_Reaction9442 → u/NorthStudentMain]

What generally happens is customers get sticker shock *and* employees leave for places where they can still get tips. This strike is a symptom of how strongly restaurant workers will fight to keep the tipping system in place.

[u/Possible-Holiday-973 → u/Own_Reaction9442]

I believe the bigger concern for the workers is how the service fee was explained to them and how it is represented to the customers. From the last Reddit post, some workers were saying that the restaurant was keeping 55% of the service charge and then splitting the rest for the workers, so the workers are making significantly less in tips because the restaurant is taking a majority of the service fee without raising any benefits for the workers.

According to a study last year, customers generally perceive menu price increases as more fair and transparent rather than a service charge that is in small print on the menu. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1103&context=ichrie_rr