Stop Leaving Us Out: 73 Years of New York State Minimum Wage Increases Excluding Women – Especially Women of Color.

The movement to increase the New York State minimum wage has made great gains for some workers. However, tipped restaurant workers, who have been overwhelmingly women and disproportionately women of color since they were first excluded from the federal minimum wage in 1938, have been repeatedly negotiated out of minimum wage increases since the inception of a minimum wage in New York State in 1960. 

These women, particularly women of color, have been repeatedly told to wait for a full minimum wage that has never materialized – with dire consequences for the future of the New York State restaurant industry.