There is so much going on behind the scenes for people who work at restaurants, no matter where you live. The reality for many of these workers can be unpleasant or even downright scary. Below the clip is a link to the book with stories like these, told in rich detail. Go ahead and check it out, if you'd like.
Want to Take Action?
None of the exploitation revealed in this video would be possible if restaurants (and all businesses) operated using a cooperative, democratically managed model, rather than the traditional model where only the owners profit from the work of the whole.
In a just, cooperative model, everyone would share in the profits or losses of a business and decisions about fair pay would be made by everyone.
If you ate at a cooperative restaurant, you could be more assured that no one is being exploited and doesn't need to depend on the generosity of good tips to survive, as the majority do in hierarchical businesses.
Personally, I don't think its right that most businesses expect you to tip their exploited workers so that the owners can reap even more profit.
So here's what we can do:
Advocate startups operate as democratic cooperatives. See DemocracyAtWork.info for resources.
Advocate existing businesses transition to a cooperative model.
That's basically it. There are hundreds of smaller actions you can take to make this happen. Raising awareness of the (root) problem is the first step of course.
To build an effective cultural movement in this direction, people have to realize the source of injustice. - Films For Action