Worker’s Rights: How a secret barista spreadsheet tipped me off to an industry and economy built on exploitation

Earlier this fall, I was one of hundreds of anonymous baristas who collaborated on a Google spreadsheet that went viral in Philadelphia. The spreadsheet was a place to volunteer information about work conditions to fellow baristas. Wages, estimated tips, government assistance, and details on the working conditions at nearly every cafe in Philadelphia suddenly became available. I realized that at $8.50 per hour, I was making less than the average barista reported. Even more shocking may have been the realization that there was no rhyme or reason to who was paid what wage, at my own workplace and across the city. The only consistency was that we were all, universally, being paid far less than a living wage for our labor.

I am among many food service workers who have a college degree. The industry has become a catch-all for workers of all ages and backgrounds who struggle to break into a salaried industry with good benefits, or who find themselves stuck in a part-time position that leads to gaps in our ability to pay the bills. Many food service workers identify as artists, writers, and musicians, laboring in a purgatorial position until they can scrape their way to producing something they feel invested in. Many more aren’t artists at all, and work, like most workers in America, simply to find a wage that supplies for their basic necessities: things like rent, food for themselves and their families, doctor’s bills, and the various mounting debts that have come to define the American experience.

Philadelphia has historically been a union city, where shoemakers established The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers in 1794 - the first semi-permanent trade union. Our building trades still command political power: Local 98, an electrical workers’ union based in Philly with 5,000 members, is the largest independent source of campaign money in Pennsylvania, donating upwards of $25 million to political campaigns since 2000.

However, Philly’s fastest-growing industry in 2019 is restaurants. Most food service businesses operate on a model that relies on paying staff far less than they deserve. A typical restaurant’s labor costs are subsidized by food stamps, Medicaid, and (of course) tips. These tips are especially fraught, as their amounts are arbitrary to the quality of service provided, while the amount of emotional labor that a customer expects varies greatly based on the race and gender of the worker they interact with. Even more egregious are the higher-end kitchens in Philadelphia, a sanctuary city, which are likely to be operating on the underpaid labor of immigrants who resort to working for low wages in cash under the table.

In 2019, we are well past the unemployment crisis that commanded attention during Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 Presidential campaigns. Today’s problem is not unemployment but underemployment: most workers are forced to work at least one low-income job, if not two or three, to cover basic living expenses. MIT’s living wage calculator says that a single adult needs to make $12.64 per hour to live in Philadelphia. Yet Pennsylvania’s state legislature prevents Philadelphia from following New York City’s example and raising our minimum wage to reflect the higher cost of urban living. Pennsylvania also boasts so-called “at-will employment,” which essentially nullifies protections against being fired for race, gender, or sexuality discrimination. In Philadelphia, your employer is simply allowed to fire you for no reason.

In 2019, labor reform is in the air, in our city and beyond. The fight for $15, a movement that began with hundreds of fast food workers walking out of their jobs in 2012, has finally become a core policy promise in the Democratic field. Workers at historically non-union jobs have pushed to break new ground, with journalists, museum staff, and fast food workers successfully unionizing in major cities across the US. Just this December, for example, Philadelphia became home to a brand new Public Defenders union. To sustain this momentum and protect workers who have already organized, legislation must be passed for domestic workers, farm workers with and without legal citizenship, and misclassified independent contractors. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act would repeal “Right-To-Work” laws that companies in 28 states use to union-bust and keep workers exploited. Out of the Democratic primary frontrunners, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg have pledged to enact these changes. Paid sick leave and parental leave are also promised by all candidates, with the exception of Joe Biden. Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, and Amy Klobuchar have stated significantly less detailed plans for labor reform.

With such robust promises from a range of candidates, perhaps it’s best to watch for who practices fair labor: Bernie Sanders’ staff made headlines when they became the first Presidential campaign in history to form a union. Julian Castro and Elizabeth Warren’s staff have since followed suit. When Philadelphians found out last July that Hahnemann Hospital would be shuttered and harvested for condos, Bernie Sanders and Senator Nina Turner joined PASNAP nurses and medical workers on North Broad Street in protest. This happened across the street from the Netroots convention, where many candidates visited, but did not stroll to the picket line. Joe Biden drew ire when he dragged his feet on attending an AFL-CIO candidate forum in September, after chasing his Philadelphia-based campaign with a fundraiser at the home of Comcast’s CEO.

We’ve seen just this year that organized workers have the power to hold politicians accountable when just about nobody else can. After a government shutdown kept TSA workers unpaid for months and low-income citizens without food stamps, the Flight Attendants’ Union announced that there would be a strike until President Trump lifted the shutdown. The shutdown ended hours later.

In 2020 it is vital that we bring a Democratic candidate against Donald Trump who is not only backed by workers’ unions, but one who will pledge to impose labor protections that empower the workers of our nation in their struggle to organize. With wages that have stagnated for years as inflation and cost of living continue to climb, things are looking dire for my $8.50 paychecks to see any change without a citywide and nationwide movement. Before the restaurant industry bubble bursts in Philadelphia, and before the catastrophes of a warming planet rock our nation at an even more alarming rate, we must fully pursue organized power for the people.

When we fight, we win!