Dear MoveOn member,
As more and more cities and states close businesses and ask residents to remain home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, millions of us have suddenly found ourselves out of work, with little to no savings or ability to pay our bills.
These quarantine efforts to "flatten the curve" of the outbreak are urgently needed to save lives, but so many Americans are now in need of some extra help. Congress is passing some measures, but it still isn't enough. And for workers whose jobs are the most vulnerable, we need to take extra steps to help our communities.
Some of the workers hardest hit by these quarantine measures are restaurant workers, gig workers (including Uber and Lyft drivers), and other tipped service workers, most of whom are paid below minimum wage and rely on tips from customers to make ends meet.
One Fair Wage is a nonprofit organization that was established after September 11, 2001, to provide relief for the thousands of New York City restaurant workers who lost their jobs after the tragedy, and over the last 20 years, it has grown to be a powerful voice for restaurant workers across the country.
More recently, One Fair Wage has been fighting to end laws in America that allow employers to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 an hour in federal minimum wage. You read that right: Workers in most states that receive tips can be legally paid just $2.13 an hour, because of the assumption that tips will make up the difference. But often that isn't the case.
And now many of these and other service workers—the largest workforce in our nation and the largest workforce of women of color—have lost their jobs, while some have become frontline workers delivering food and supplies, putting them at risk to contract the coronavirus.
Restaurant workers, service workers, and gig workers do critical, essential jobs that allow the rest of our nation to cook, eat, and get around. In this moment of crisis, we cannot allow them to fall through the cracks.
As we all grapple with the new reality we are living in because of this crisis, it's easy to wish that things would go back to normal.
But rather than hoping for that old normal, it is up to us to take lessons from this crisis and build a better world as we move into the future.
We now know just how essential the workers who stock shelves and bag groceries are to our ability to survive.
We know how brave the workers are who continue to make and deliver food, even though they know doing so puts them at risk.
And we know that all of these workers deserve not just short-term protections, but a fair, living wage to allow them to care for their families and thrive as we move forward.
MoveOn will continue to fight for that future, and we know that you will be standing with us.
Thanks for all you do.
–Emma, Erik, Pulin, Oscar, and the rest of the team
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