A City Council committee taking a look at Northampton’s economy heard Monday about working conditions in restaurants. An accompanying “white paper” offered evidence that the rights of employees are routinely trampled.
The study by the University of Massachusetts Labor Center and the Pioneer Valley Workers Center carried a neutral title: “Working Conditions in the Northampton Restaurant Industry.” But facts inside should unsettle not just councilors, but anyone with a conscience who patronizes restaurants. The revelations present a particular challenge to the council’s Committee on Community Resources. Will it go after practices that prey on people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder? Will its members stand up for fair play in the workplace?
The report, two years in the making, comes months after an acrimonious fight over a union proposed for the Hotel Northampton. Clare Hammonds of the UMass Labor Center summarized findings for councilors Monday. The full report is at the bottom of this story.
More than 100 places to eat downtown — epicenter of Hampshire County’s restaurant trade — employed over 1,600 workers and generated over $7.6 million in annual sales in 2012, according to the Census Bureau, a figure that seems low.
It isn’t just that a lot of those workers make less than a living wage, defined as $13.18 an hour in this area. Some told researchers they are forced to work at times without pay. Employers are allowed to pay a wage of $3.35 to workers who receive tips, but are required to cover the gap if tips do not get those workers up to the minimum wage, now $10 an hour in Massachusetts. But that rarely occurs, says the report, which was hardly a fly-by affair. The study is based on 235 face-to-face interviews. This was a full and unflinching look into an industry that, perhaps because it pays entry-level wages, gets little attention.
While a new state law allows workers to accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave a year, people who work in restaurants with fewer than 11 employees are not covered. Even when a law does apply to them, workers told researchers, they can get stiffed. The study found that 70 percent of those compelled to work more than 40 hours a week do not receive overtime pay. The research team also found people who are paid a flat weekly fee then expected to put in 60 to 70 hours a week, driving their effective hourly pay “well below the minimum wage.”
In hot, chaotic kitchens, safety is at risk as well. An astounding 94 percent of those surveyed said they received no safety training from their bosses. Fifty-five percent said they had suffered burns on the job; 32 percent said they had been cut.
Those are physical hazards of this work environment. Another thing that restaurant workers have come to expect, unfortunately, is verbal and sexual harassment. One in four of the workers interviewed reported being a target of sexual harassment. That illegal conduct, they said, was directed at them not only by managers but by co-workers and customers.
What’s the City Council to make of these sorry facts? Hammonds, the study’s author, offers policy recommendations: Penalize violators of employment laws. Fashion a system that identifies businesses that engage in persistent wage theft and deny them city permits. Support the right of workers to opt for collective bargaining. Find ways to praise restaurants that treat their employees well and allow goodwill to flow their way.
The restaurant business is growing in Hampshire County, with the number of outlets expanding 11.6 percent from 2002 to 2011. While the Great Recession claimed victims in the restaurant business, the sector rebounded. Now is a good time for city government to take the light that’s shining in and do all it can to scrub away dirty habits.