The election of Donald Trump creates a crisis for New York State — but also an opportunity. Instead of waiting to see what horrors the second Trump administration rains down on our community, we can take immediate action to protect New Yorkers and prioritize our state’s needs.
With the cost of living already high enough and Trump’s proposed tariffs anticipated to raise costs even more for working class New Yorkers, one thing our state can and must do immediately is end the subminimum wage for restaurant and other service workers so they can make at least a full minimum wage plus tips. That will put more money in working New Yorkers’ pockets and help insulate many of our state’s most vulnerable workers from whatever is to come.
Frankly, we should have ended the subminimum wage in New York a long time ago. The subminimum wage allows restaurant owners in our state to pay workers less than a full, fair minimum wage with the expectation that customers’ tips make up the difference. But the problem is they often don’t.
And while most restaurant owners are honorable, some are unscrupulous and routinely under-pay their workers or steal their tips. The investigative journalists at ProPublica found that 25% of wage theft statewide takes place in the restaurant industry — “more than in any other industry in New York.”
What’s worse, the very concept of a subminimum wage is a vestige of slavery. After Emancipation, some white restaurant owners didn’t want to pay newly freed Black workers and found a clever way to do so by making tips a replacement for wages. So it’s no surprise that racial discrimination is still rampant in the restaurant industry, including the reality that Black servers receive lower tips from customers — which means they take home less pay for doing the same work as their white coworkers.
In addition, research shows that the subminimum wage is the cause of the worst rates of sexual harassment of any industry in our nation. Because when women working as restaurant servers rely on tips to pay their rent, that means customers have outsized power — as do managers, whose decision about whether you get a busy shift or a slow one makes a huge impact on whether you can cover your basic monthly costs, like rent and groceries.
Importantly, data from states that have ended the subminimum wage show that doing so cuts rates of sexual harassment in half. This is especially important given that the majority of tipped restaurant workers are women.
We have no idea what Trump will do in office. He’s pledged to end taxes on tips — which would only help the top one-third of tip earners and leave out the bottom two-thirds who literally earn too little to pay income taxes. Ending the subminimum wage is what would really make that policy make sense — and make a difference in the lives of working people.
But if Trump acts before New York State legislators, he’ll get the credit for being a working-class hero while the people of our state still largely suffer. In the wake of the 2024 election, it’s vital that Democrats in our state not only work to make a real difference in the lives of working people but be seen doing so and get the political credit. Trump is good at optics. We have to be good at delivering real and tangible outcomes for our communities.
In fact, the only reason to not end the subminimum wage is if New York Democrats want to continue siding with the corporate restaurant chain lobby — and continue being seen as the party of elite interests that works to undercut working people. We don’t think that’s who we are, but we need to show it.
Ending the subminimum wage and ensuring that everyone is paid a full, fair minimum wage with tips on tops is smart and popular. It’s a win-win not only for working New Yorkers but New York State Democrats. The time for us to lead is now — before it’s too late.
González-Rojas is a state Assembly member representing parts of Queens. Jackson is a state senator representing parts of Northern Manhattan and the Bronx.
