2 days Ago
Stop blaming workers for higher costs In a March 20 Guest Opinion , Senator Amabile wrote “Let’s pass a reasonable fix to ensure Colorado restaurants, which are so essential to local culture and community, can thrive.” But why is the answer to saving the local restaurant industry cutting tipped restaurant workers’ wages? Let’s be clear, if this bill passes, tipped minimum wage workers in Boulder may go from making $13.55 per hour to $11.
79 . Restaurants aren’t the only ones facing rising costs. If wages are cut, tipped employees would need to earn far more in tips than they do now to afford necessities like rent and food.
Although we think of most minimum wage workers as young and without family responsibilities, according to the Economic Policy Institute , “tipped workers are also more likely to be single parents — especially women workers.” Women restaurant workers also face higher sexual harassment in the workforce, the effects of which are exacerbated if they are working for tips and feel that they cannot financially afford to “offend” their harassers. Labor (i.
e. “people who work for wages”) is essential to running any business, including a restaurant. Pitting tipped and non-tipped workers and front-of-house staff against back-of-house staff against each other is a neat trick to suggest that there is a preferred class of people who are being paid what we have decided is the bare minimum.
I do not doubt that an industry that usually runs on profit margins of 3-5% needs support to survive our economically challenging reality. But cutting wages for tipped workers doesn’t address the other reasons restaurants have economic woes and will only undermine our state’s economic vitality. Rebecca Andruszka, Vice Chair of the Women’s Lobby of Colorado, Denver Local leaders must call out injustice The recent detention of Jeanette Vizguerra — a mother, grandmother, and community leader who has spoken out for immigrant rights — should alarm leaders across our state, including here in Longmont.
As a husband, father, and person of faith who believes that I, too, was once an “immigrant in Egypt,” I feel compelled to speak up. Jeanette’s arrest was not about immigration enforcement; it was a deliberate attempt to silence a voice for immigrant rights. She wasn’t taken at a rally or in the commission of a crime.
She was taken while on break at her job at Target. She wasn’t a threat to the community. She was a mother, a grandmother and a community leader simply trying to get by, like so many of us.
At this moment, local leaders must remain vigilant, speak up and stand for justice and human rights. Longmont has long been a place where families from all walks of life can build better futures, but that future is at risk when activists like Jeanette are taken from their communities. The moment is coming when this issue will land on Longmont’s doorstep, and it’s on us to ensure our community feels safe — safe from politically motivated detention, safe to report crimes and work with law enforcement and safe to speak out for their rights.
Local leaders have a responsibility to call out injustice. We must protect due process, resist unjust enforcement, ensure our neighbors know their rights and stand in solidarity with those fighting for a fairer system. Longmont’s strength is its diversity, resilience and people.
If we allow injustice to go unchallenged, we risk losing what makes this city special. We must be a community where every family, every worker, and every child is safe, supported and treated with dignity. Jake Marsing, Longmont Community needs to know what neighbors are saying Over a thousand people from Boulder County attend a town hall in Louisville held by Rep.
Joe Neguse, our U.S. Congressman, with Sen.
Michael Bennet, our senator, and there is no coverage in the Daily Camera? The Monarch High School gym was full to capacity so there was overflow into the auditorium, filling it too, and still some could not get in. This has not happened before in Boulder County, certainly in a non-election year. Certainly, it deserves mention? The questions and concerns voiced by citizens were insightful and important.
Rep. Neguse gave pointed answers and offered actionable solutions, not political platitudes. The community needs to know what their neighbors are saying and how our own representatives in Colorado and Washington are responding to it.
Strange that the Camera was not present or did not cover it. Cynthia Jaffe, Louisville.
