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Originally Posted by Omaroo
Oh dear Carl.... 
It's not a battle between right and wrong. You are still not seeing the point, and I'm not sure you're trying to.
The wage structure is based on an agreed structure between "bosses" and "workers" like an award in essence - but is unfortunately still called a "tip". It is not a case of the customer "helping to pay" the worker. Get that out of your head! There is no subterfuge here on behalf of the owners.
When you go into business in the States - like running a restaurant for instance - you know and understand that workers, in general, are partly paid in the form of a tip - leaving you (the owner) to call the rest of their pay a "salary" or "wage". They (the workers) are never getting any less than if they were paid in a single-tier manner like we are here. It's just the way it is done - and it is not "less right" that our system is here. The worker is NOT at a disadvantage because of it, which is what you are still, undyingly, trying to maintain. Employers are not scumbags - they all (repeat: ALL) satisfy the workers pay in the same manner - not just some of them. It's a system - not a cover-up. Paying the tip is MANDATORY on behalf of the customer - not optional. Therefore - how could the owner splitting this component off from the bill be seen as anything other than kosher?
If you look for employment in this sector in the States - you also understand that part of your wages are coming in the form of "tips" - but not to worry as they are guaranteed and non-negotiable. You expect the $20 per hour you agreed to work for to be split between what we call "wage" and "tips". You still get your $20 per hour!! You are not relying on anyone's compassion or good will to earn your full $20 - especially the owners.
It isn't the old days - where the tipping system was originally introduced to offset poor pay and working conditions. This ISN'T the case any more - it's only carried on in name and form. The wages a worker gets are all guaranteed!!! If you are one of the "scumbag" employers you keep referring to - you'd better watch out of you fiddle the books and rip off your employees - the Internal Revenue Service will drag you through hell for it. I think that I've mentioned this already.
Because we aren't used to this system here in Australia - I think that most of you are confused, still, by the term "tip". It isn't, in the USA, just what you leave on the table if you think your service was provided excellently, it is a standard part of the bill. They should probably change that pay component's name to "Service Charge" - which would alleviate the confusion. This whole Service Charge goes directly to the worker. |
I know what you're trying to say and I can see the way the system works...the worker get's $20/hr, guaranteed, but his/her pay is a combo of what the employer pays + the "tip". Like you said, the "tip" is in fact a service charge and should be named as such. It's much like a GST, only not really a tax.
However...
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...workers, in general, are partly paid in the form of a tip - leaving you (the owner) to call the rest of their pay a "salary" or "wage".
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What that says is this....you may get $20/hr, but the employer only pays for the wage directly of that amount minus the value of the tip. So, in effect, the customer is subsiding the workers wages. If $20/hr is the minimum going rate, for instance, and say the workers average $20 in tips per working shift, that means in a 10 hour day the employer only has to pay $18/hr, which is below the minimum wage rate, in order to satisfy the workers pay. The employer effectively pays the wage earners their wages but circumvents the minimum wage requirements. That's what I call cheating. If they did that here in any industry other than hospitality (they get away with blue murder with working hours etc out here), they'd be lynched. Their business would head south faster than an F18 in afterburner!!!!. The unions would have a field day!!!. Those tips would be seen as being bonuses, not base pay. Even the hospitality workers out here wouldn't put up with that. Those out here wanting tips want the tips to be paid over and above their normal set wages, not as a part thereof. Try paying them below the award and then bring their pay up to the award level with tip and see what happens. If they don't get enough tips to cover the wages, what happens then. It means the employer, by law, must make up the shortfall in accordance with the wages agreement they must sign as part of their contract with their employees. If they don't, and I hope they do the same in the US, the ATO/IRS would/ought to rake them over boiling lava and then throw the book at them.
That is one of the reasons why tipping here was frowned upon then abolished completely. Apart from being an objectionable way of making pay for employees, it's open to all sorts of abuses...on both sides.