The RI State Investment Commission voted to invest $20 million with GEM Realty Capital, despite the company’s claim that the health and safety of employees at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel in Los Angeles, one of the many properties owned by the company, is not something they can have any affect on.

GEM Realty describes itself as a real estate investment company that invests in “private-market real estate assets and publicly traded real estate securities”. At the meeting on Wednesday morning, two GEM Realty representatives admitted that there were problems at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel, but said that as they are not the majority investor in the enterprise or involved in the day-to-day management of the business, there is little they can do to effect positive change in the way workers are being treated at the properties they invest in.

Treasurer Seth Magaziner lead the questioning of the company reps about the allegations of unsafe and un-sanitary labor conditions at the hotel and Commission member Marcia Reback asked about the use of a firm known for union busting to prevent workers from unionizing. The GEM Realty reps assured the Commission that the union-busting firm was no longer employed by the hotel and that the health and safety issues were in the process of being resolved via the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

On April 25 employees filed a complaint with the CA Division of Occupational Safety and Health complaining about the hotel’s failure to provide safety equipment to employees charged with cleaning medical waste from Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel rooms. Many guests receive treatment at a nearby hospital and leave medical waste behind. Though management shows an instructional video every year about the proper disposal of needles and  bloodied linens, employees say “the hotel does not provide the safety equipment shown in the video”.

The Sofitel LA Hotel has also drawn “multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges that are currently being investigated by the regional office of the NLRB alleging that since employees raised the health and safety issues, hotel management has responded by threatening and surveilling employees and in one case illegally firing one of the employee leaders,” says Jim Baker coordinator for Unite Here. These case can be accessed here.

Then there’s the class action lawsuit seven employees have brought against the hotel alleging wage theft. Business Wire reports, “Six of the plaintiffs allege being paid less than the minimum wage while working at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. A former barback, as well as three housekeeping workers, a banquet worker, and a restaurant server, allege that management underpaid or have been underpaying them by up to $5.37 per hour.”

Aside from the allegations of deplorable labor practices, there may be sound financial reasons to avoid investing in GEM Realty, says Sam Bell, executive director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, has concerns about the very idea of private equity investments for our pension funds.

“With their high fees, private equity investments are a bad deal for our pension fund,” says Bell, “As Treasurer, Gina Raimondo, who made her fortune in this controversial industry, made a big move into high-fee funds, and that decision continues to drive our pension fund’s poor performance.  Seth Magaziner campaigned on a new kind of politics.  Expanding private equity investments, while other funds are pulling out of high fee options, would represent a move back to the aggressively pro-Wall St. policies of the previous Treasurer.

“Real estate private equity funds are especially poor choices, given their distinctive record of pushing policies that hurt American families,” says Bell, ” In the case of GEM Realty Capital, it is aggressive violations of workers’ rights that stand out, but across the real estate investment industry in general there is a serious and pervasive culture of immorality.”

Though the GEM Realty reps were asking for a $30 million investment from the state, the board seemed to feel that a $20 million investment was more in line with their investment strategy.

In 2008, the building was bought by David Sweetser and High Rock Development LLC for $33 million dollars. In a bid to lower their taxes, the developers are now arguing that the building has “no value.” In 2013, Sweetser asked for $75 million in state assistance and tax breaks, and each year, he comes back to ask again.

Rhode Islanders should not be held responsible for bad business decisions. And we should subsidize affordable housing, not luxury apartments that further segregate the rich from the poor. With the massive expansion of the agency that did 38 Studios, more and more Rhode Island corporations are coming to expect big checks from the state for any developments they do. And more and more developers are holding development hostage to bargain for public bailouts. It’s time to take action.

That’s why, continuing our strong stance against corporate welfare, we call on our political leaders to reject any subsidies for the Superman Building. We need to send a clear message that holding the building empty to extort money won’t work. Until the developer gets the message, the building will remain vacant.

We ask Sweetser to either develop the building or sell it to someone who can. The people of Rhode Island will not be bullied into giving absurd amounts of money to bail out a corporation’s mistakes. We can’t let this Massachusetts developer take advantage of us by using enormous tax subsidies to build unaffordable luxury apartments. Spending $75 million on corporate welfare for luxury apartments is unethical. Less than 5 years ago, the state of Rhode Island gave $75 million dollars to 38 Studios. We ask that we not make that mistake again.

The EFSB also denied all but two motions that were brought before it today.

The Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) met today to decide a number of issues pertaining to the “Clear River Energy Center” a new methane gas power plant planned by Invenergy for the Town of Burrillville.

Things did not go well for opponents of the plan.

Curran began the meeting reminding those in attendance that their would be no public comment. This did not stop people from standing and loudly declaring their dissatisfaction with some decisions made by the board.

EFSB board member Janet Coit, director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), asked that people “respect the process” and stressed that there would be ample opportunity for public comment. Then the board began making their decisions.

Dennis and Kathryn Sherman and Paul and Mary Bolduc whose properties are near the site of the proposed plant and whose interests are not covered by any other intervenors, were granted intervenor status by the EFSB.

The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats (RIPDA) were denied. They do not have an adequately expressed interest.

Fighting Against Natural Gas  (FANG) and Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE) are also denied, their intervention was decided to be not in the public interest.The simple allegation “however heart felt” of public interest is not enough.

Fossil Free Rhode Island (FFRI),  Sister Mary Pendergast and Occupy Providence filed identical applications, and there is no reason to grant intervenor status said Curran and Coit.

Peter Nightingale, from Fossil Free RI, issued the following statement upon the group being denied intervenor status:

“Rhode Island government may decide to sell Rhode Island down the “Clear River.”

• “If it does, it may have acted in accordance with twisted statuary law.
• “But government, in that case, will have failed in its fiduciary duty to protect the natural resources —air, land and water— it holds in trust for the People.
• “When the time comes, those responsible will be held accountable for their crimes against humanity and nature.”

Nightingale was escorted from the room by security when he rose and loudly read his statement to the board.

Pat Fontes, representing Occupy Providence, also rose and spoke, as she left the room. Fontes said, in a statement, “The predator’s pursuit of profit produces pain for poorer people. It’s the weakest who inherit the consequences without ever having their opinion about the risks taken into account.” She said, “Remember Flint, Michigan!” as she left.

Sally J. Mendzela‘s motion was dismissed because her ideas were “outside the scope” of the process.

The Burrillville Land Trust‘s motion for intervention was denied. Their concerns will be dealt with by the DEM, said the board. “I think their will be other opportunities” said Coit, for the Burrillville Land Trust to make their concerns known. The Land Trust’s motion to close the docket was rendered moot by their denial of intervenor status.

Paul Roselli, president of the Burrillville Land Trust was not surprised by the Board’s decision. He maintains that the issue of biodiversity will not be covered. The impact on species is dependent on an individual species’ status as endangered or threatened, etc. The overall or “holistic” impact of something like Clear River is not considered, and this is the perspective Roselli hoped the Land Trust would bring.

Still, some good came out of the Land Trust’s motion. Invenergy’s application has been updated to ensure compliance with section 44 of the Clean Water Act.

RI Administration for Planning, Office of Energy Resources, the DEM, the RIPUC, RIDOT, the Department of Health and other state agencies will all be asked for advisory opinions. Curran says that because of the “tight time schedule” it’s critical that we get advisory opinions “as soon as possible.”

This raises the question: Why is the EFSB on a Invenergy’s time table?

The Office of Energy Resources will render advisory opinions regarding all issues per the Resilient RI Act. as bought up by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).

The board will be looking for specific limitations on the use of “secondary fuels,” said Curran. The proposed power plant is made to run on fuel oil as well as methane, as discussed on RI Future here.

There was also some consideration given to Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

The EFSB is chaired by RI Public Utilities Commission (RIPUC) Chairperson Margaret Curran and has only one other sitting member, Janet Coit, director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The third position on the board is usually filled by the associate director of  the RI Administration for Planning, a position currently unfilled.

The first public hearing will be on Thursday, March 31 in the cafeteria of the Burrillville’s High School. The meeting will be officially announced soon.

In a short interview with Ted Nesi, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, widely considered to be the most environmentally conscious member of the US Senate, threw his support behind Invenergy’s Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville, a power plant to be run on fracked methane.

Whitehouse said, “Rhode Island and a large part of Southern New England are on the wrong side of a couple of gas pipeline choke points, with the result that at certain times costs soar in Rhode Island because the choke point creates a supply-demand imbalance which causes prices to soar, and in other states that’s not happening.

“I don’t think it’s valuable from Rhode Island’s perspective to make Rhode Islanders pay high winter gas prices when it doesn’t change the overall complexion of the gas market. So I am not objecting to that particular plant, because it’s a choke point issue.”

When Nesi asked Whitehouse if he’s received any blowback  for his refusal to oppose the plant, Whitehouse said,  “Some. There’s a small group of people who would like to have me change my position.

“From the larger environmental movement – the Save the Bays and the League of Conservation Voters and the Nature Conservancies and all that – there’s no blowback whatsoever. They understand the difference between the national and the local concern.”

So do Save the Bay and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) really support Whitehouse’s position on the new Burrillville power plant as the Senator implies?

Not quite.

I asked both Save the Bay and the League of Conservation Voters for comments on what Whitehouse said. Neither group came close to backing the Senator up.

Seth Stein, National Press Secretary for the League of Conservation Voters, said, “LCV does not have an RI state league partner. We focus on Federal policy, and do not generally weigh in on local politics in states where we do not have a state league.”

Topher Hamblett, director of policy at Save the Bay, said, “Save The Bay has not taken a position on the project (we’re focused on a host of Bay issues). On development projects like this we usually evaluate potential impacts to water resources, wetland systems and Bay/coastal eco-sytsems.”

Save the Bay’s executive director Jonathan Stone wrote, “Save the Bay has not taken a position on the plant. On energy development proposals like this we always evaluate impacts on water quality, wetlands habitat, public access, and other impacts on the health of the Bay and coastal Rhode Island.”

Burrillville is not positioned near the Bay.

Given that two of the three groups that Whitehouse named have no position on the project, and the third group, “the Nature Conservancies and all that” doesn’t specify any particular agency, it appears that Whitehouse’s answer was intended to minimize the importance of local opposition to the power plant, not honestly appraise the support for natural gas infrastructure expansion that exists in the wider environmental community.

One nature conservancy that does have a strong position on Invenergy’s plans is one that will be directly impacted by the plant. The Burrillville Land Trust, has been granted intervenor status in the process to determine the power plant’s fate and has filed a motion to shut the application process down.

So none of the environmental groups that Whitehouse implied would support him, do. Instead, we have wide ranging opposition to the plant from a host of groups that understand what is at stake in allowing Rhode Island to continue to depend on fossil fuels for its energy.

The Conservation Law Foundation, the Burrillville Land Trust, Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion  (BASE), Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG), Fossil Free RI, Rhode Island Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Green Party of RI, Occupy Providence and the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats have all come out against the plant.

In his interview with Nesi, Whitehouse cavalierly dismissed the concerns of local environmental groups, and could name no environmental groups that support his position.

If Whitehouse is truly the Senate’s climate champion, we are all in serious trouble.

Here are the details of the multi-million dollar tax breaks Mayor Jorge Elorza and the Providence City Council are in the process of granting to corporate owners of existing properties even as the City Council weighs plans to increase taxes on Providence homeowners.

On December 1 of last year the City Council Committee on Finance considered four ordinances that would extend the existing tax stabilization agreements for Monohassett Mill LLC, Pearl Street Properties LLC and Pearl Street LLC, 60 Valley Street LLC and 166 Valley Street LLC on behalf of the Rising Sun Mills Project, and 100 Fountain Street.

STEP (Stop Tax Evasion in Providence) estimates the total cost of these deals to be in excess of $3 million. Mayor Elorza has expressed his support through Brett Smiley, his Chief Operating Officer, who spoke before the committee in support of these extended tax breaks here, here, here and here.

As STEP points out in their petition to garner public opposition to these tax breaks, “The construction jobs are long gone and these buildings have been occupied for quite some time.”

STEP will be delivering their petition to the Providence City Hall at 6:30 on Thursday evening.

Yesterday the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats (RIPDA) released footage of then candidate Elorza promising that the days of tax agreements with connected developers would be over in his administration. RIPDA maintains that the “deals pending before the city right now are even more egregious than usual. That’s because the development has already happened. There’s no question of encouraging development–the developers want their special tax deals to continue. This is just giving the city’s limited tax dollars to big developers.  Pure and simple.”

Clearly, Mayor Elorza has a lot of explaining to do to Providence taxpayers in order to justify their housing tax increases in light of his generosity to connected insiders.

In Rhode Island, Democrats have near total control over the state government, yet we see almost none of the economic advantages that other blue states, like neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut, enjoy. Our General Assembly will not pass reasonable gun legislation, moves to prevent cities and towns from raising the minimum wage, passed the biggest tax cuts for the rich in the nation, slips anti-reproductive rights legislation into the budget at the eleventh hour (preventing real discussion around the issue) and is the only Democratically controlled legislature in the country to have passed voter ID.

In short, our Democrats are political and economic conservatives and on core issues of concern to progressives, have more in common with the national Republican Party than the national Democratic Party platform.

That’s why RIPDA’s voice is so important and deserving of support. They are the conscience of a political machine in Rhode Island that would much rather be unbothered by thoughts of the poor and vulnerable. They consistently fight back against the worst abuses of state government, and they do so with virtually no funding, just the dedicated work of a gung ho group of volunteers.

Mike Araujo, honored this year with the Progressive Hero award, worked tirelessly to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which unfairly discriminates against women and opens them to sexual harassment in the workplace. After a year long battle the tipped minimum wage was increased for the first time in decades, meaning there is still much work to be done, and you can bet that Araujo will be leading that fight. He’s also a terrific speaker and advocate.

So come on down to Ogie’s Trailer Park Thursday night and enjoy some fine food and fine company. Think about joining the RIPDA and moving the Rhode Island Democratic Party out of the hands of neoliberal blue dogs and into the hands of the working class, where it belongs.

There’s work to be done, and the RIPDA is doing it.

Order your tickets here.

Please don’t misinterpret this letter as a diatribe against going out.  There are many instances when going out can lead to some pretty awesome things-supporting a cause through a fundraiser, participating in public discourse, or otherwise getting civically engaged-to name a few.  Rather, I propose a more thoughtful approach to the way we exert our significant consumption habits, pursuing long-term happiness over short-term pleasures.

The psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs outlines five fundamental innate human desires and the priority in which humans seek them.[1] The Hierarchy begins with the physiological (food, water, air), then safety (shelter, law, freedom from fear), then social (friendship, intimacy), then esteem (achievement, mastery, self-respect), and finally self-actualization (realizing person potential, self-fulfillment).  It could be argued that a majority of those people who have the means to go out and purchase alcohol at bar prices, have, at least temporarily, sated their physiological, safety, and social needs.

I implore those who find themselves in the relatively rare and comfortable socioeconomic situation which allows for the pursuit of esteem, and subsequently self-actualization, to do that!  There are many ways to begin a process toward self-actualization, but one of the easiest ways I know how, is to get involved, and get organized.

Rhode Island is privileged to have more advocacy, non-profit, and human-oriented endeavors per capita than most other places in the world.  Groups such as the Millennial Professional Group of Rhode Island, the Providence Student Union, and the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats are actively working to make our state a better place for all who live here.

In creating the Collective Conscience event series, it is my hope to partner excellent causes with up-and-coming electronic musicians to raise awareness for both, and, just maybe, get some people to think about getting involved who otherwise might not.

On May 22, at 9:00 p.m. at Aurora (276 Westminster Street), we will host Collective Conscience, which will bring together those three organizations along with four talented electronic musicians; Kuh Lida (https://soundcloud.com/kuhlida), Julia (https://soundcloud.com/juliajuliajuliajuliajulia/sets/julia/s-WnKFk), Tokyo Megaplex (https://soundcloud.com/tokyomegaplex), and Rhythm and Stealth (http://rhythmstealth.com/)

Our goal is to raise awareness and some funds, as there will be a $5 cover, for three causes, thereby empowering civic engagement.

Michael Beauregard is Producer of the Collective Conscience event series Friday, May 22, 9:00 p.m. at Aurora (276 Westminster St), and Principal of PA Advisors, a Providence, RI-based consulting firm.

[1] http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

A large coalition to raise the tipped minimum wage was launched at the State House with a press conference and public testimony on House Bill 5364. Representative Aaron Regunberg introduced the bill that would gradually increase the the minimum wage from $2.89 to match the regular minimum wage by 2020. Senator Gayle Goldin introduced matching legislation on the Senate side. There has been no increase in the tipped minimum wage in nearly 20 years.

ROC United RI (Restaurant Opportunities Center) launched “One Fair Wage Rhode Island,” an impressive coalition of community, labor, faith business and women’s organizations that includes the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, RI-NOW, NAACP-Providence Branch, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, the Economic Progress Institute, the Bell Street Chapel, Rhode Island AFL-CIO, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, Fuerza Laboral, NEARI, United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and Unite Here Local 217.

Many restaurant patrons are unaware that their tip is not simply a “thank you” for great service, said Senator Goldin, “It’s paying your server’s base salary, and nobody’s base salary should entirely depend on a customer’s mood.”

More than just being an issue of fairness, this is an issue of impacting “women’s economic security,” says Women’s Fund Executive Director Jenn Steinfeld. “Nearly three in four Rhode Island tipped workers are women, one-third are mothers, and more than half of these are single mothers.” Steinfeld says that eliminating the tipped minimum wage will “help address the gender pay gap.”

Being dependent on tips for their salary makes servers more vulnerable to sexual harassment, since telling a customer that their advances or flirting is unwelcome puts the server at risk of losing a tip. A recent report from the national ROC United found that, “Women living off tips in states with a $2.13 an hour tipped minimum wage are twice as likely to experience sexually harassment than women in states that pay the full minimum wage to all workers. In fact, all workers in $2.13 states, including men, reported higher rates of sexual harassment, indicating that the sub-minimum wage perpetuates a culture of sexual harassment.” It’s in response to this atmosphere of sexual harassment that ROC United has launched its “Not on the Menu” campaign.

There is also good economic sense in raising the tipped minimum wage, maintains Mike Araujo, of ROC United RI. “”Raising the subminimum wage will have an important stimulative effect for Rhode Island. When tipped workers earn more, that money goes right back into the local economy.” ROC United estimates raising the wage will pump $64 million into the state’s economy. Further, tipped workers in Rhode Island currently receive $638,325 in food stamps every month, which means that taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the restaurant industry through social welfare programs.

After the press conference there was a heaing on Regunberg’s bill in the House Labor Committee. Though over 150 people signed up to testify, on both sides of the issue, in the end only 25 people could endure the four hour hearing waiting for their turn to speak. Those speaking against raising the tipped minimum wage were mostly members of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA), a business lobbying group that routinely opposes any legislation that might raise the minimum wage or improve the ability of workers to collect money lost to wage theft. Many  of the RIHA members wore small golden pineapple pins.

“The states that have eliminated completely their subminimum wage,” said Representative Regunberg describing the economic impact of his bill, “have as high or higher industry and  job growth rates as subminimum wage states.”

Bill Kitsilis, of Angelo’s Palace Pizza sees no reason to raise the tipped minimum wage, and said, “My tipped employees… are some of the highest paid employees in my business.” He thinks $2.89 is fine, since that’s what he predicated his business model on. Comparisons with other states are not valid, Kitsilis maintains, because other states have much, much stronger economies.

Representative Antonio Giarrusso asked about employee turnover. Kitsilis feels that turnover only happens when people aren’t making money, and he also says that there are a lot of people hiring right now, making it difficult to find workers. An odd statement, considering Rhode Island’s unemployment rate.

The issue of “side work” came up, that is, the work servers do for a restaurant, at $2.89 an hour, that doesn’t earn the server tips. Side work is an old way of getting work done in a restaurant on the cheap, and is completely legal. Raising the subminimum would eliminate this disparity. Kitsilis said that such work “tends to be… a small percentage of what they do, most of the time…”

Representative Teresa Tanzi has worked in the restaurant industry for 14 years. “In those 14 years I have worked at dozens of restaurants, somewhere around 45 restaurants, I would say. And in all those restaurants, one has paid me according to the law.” For fear of retaliation, she could never confront management about this. “I’m well aware that they are breaking the law, but there is nothing I can do. I am relying on my manager and the owner of that restaurant for my employment.”

The Department of Labor surveyed 9000 restaurants over two years and found that 84 percent of them violate the law.

When Chairperson Joseph Shekarchi pushed back against Tanzi’s experience, saying that he doesn’t see the connection between low wages and harassment and abuse of servers, drawing on his experience as a bartender, Tanzi stuck to her guns and pointed out that the experience of women working as servers and men working as bartenders are very different. “It does happen and it’s a daily occurrence. If someone touches you, or if you’re waiting on a table and it’s a party of ten and that’s all the money you’re going to make tonight, and they want to be fresh with you in some way shape or form… I refer to it as a ‘golf clap’ in my vernacular. Whenever someone says something that’s ‘funny,’ you’re waiting on someone and they something that isn’t funny, you have to laugh. If someone touches you inappropriately, what are you going to say? There’s very little recourse as a server that you have.”

Rep Giarrusso’s solution for “any woman or anybody getting sexually harassed” is that “they should hit somebody with a nine iron.” Maybe he’ll introduce legislation to that effect.

“The truth is, 60 percent of restaurant workers in Rhode Island are over the age of 24 and 32 percent of all of Rhode Island’s restaurant workers are parents.”

“I feel that the current wage devalues me as an employee,” says Daniel Burke. Burke explained how the days and hours he is making good money from tips are averaged with the days and hours he’s performing other tasks at the restaurant. As long as he averages minimum wage with the money provided by customers, the restaurant can get away with paying him $2.89 an hour. Of course, Representative Giarusso thinks that Burke should take this issue up with his employer because, “I would, that’s for sure.”

As a 31 year old mother explains that her bartender job requires her to perform duties that are not directly related to serving customers. Therefore no tips can be expected and the restaurant gets away with paying employees $2.89 an hour for work that any other business in the state would have to pay at least minimum wage to accomplish. Again, Representative Giarrusso misses the point, thinking that the issue of side work isn’t related to this. As long as there is a two-tiered wage system, restaurant managers and owners will have an incentive to make workers do untipped work at the lower wage, rather than pay the server properly.

ROC United RI’s Mike Araujo finally explains that “those extra tasks,” that is side work, are “built into the job.” Side work, prep and cleaning averages out to about 3 or 4 hours a day, which is “effectively unpaid labor.” This profitable industry is built on the backs of primarily underpaid women.

Araujo may have summed up the night best when he said, “This issue speaks to how we believe society should be shaped. Do we believe that our citizens deserve equal treatment and deserve full equality, or do we believe that there is a second tier that women, increasingly, belong to?”

“Moving into a restaurant that paid over the minimum wage had such a tangible benefit…”

“When we talk about this issue we can’t escape the fact that this is a women’s issue… forcing a worker to rely on tips for any portion of their base wage significantly increases their chances of experiencing sexual harassment.”

Once again, Representative Giarrausso claims that “I don’t really understand the connection to sexual harassment… If someone’s a jackass, for lack of a better word… I mean, I don’t promote sexual harassment. I think those people should be tied up and jailed and never come out.” Giarrusso claims he “can’t draw the parallel” between low pay and sexual harassment.

But Giarrusso tips his hand as he grins and asks, “Is there an acceptable level of sexual harassment depending on how much you’re getting paid?” This is simply a variation of the line, variously ascribed to George Bernard Shaw or Winston Churchill, “We know what you are, we’re just haggling over the price.”

In response to testimony quoting FDR, Rep. Giarrusso maintains that “there is data that shows that every time minimum wage goes up, so does unemployment.” The US Department of Labor dispels that myth at the top of its page on the minimum wage. Giarrusso also brings up the specter of automation, as is done now whenever minimum wage increases are discussed. I deal with the automation argument here.

Joe Fortune, speaking below, wrote about his experience speaking before the committee on his own blog here.

Notice the pineapple pin. RIHA is in the house. This man is a CPA who specializes in hospitality. I am willing to bet he makes more than $2.89 an hour plus tips.

John Elkhay owns Ten Prime Steak & Sushi, Rick’s Roadhouse, XO Café, Luxe Burger Bar, and Harry’s Bar & Burger, as well as Veritas Catering. “Unlike the people who testified before me,” says Elkhay, “I actually live and work in Rhode Island.” I guess he wasn’t listening to the experiences of the four speakers who do live and work in Rhode Island. After telling the committee about how many employees he has and how much money they all make, he throws them under the bus, saying, “They don’t claim all their tips, by the way. That’s a sneaky little secret.”

“Don’t say that in this building,” says Representative Giarrusso, trying to make light of the comment.

Elkhay doesn’t blink. “Yeah, well, it’s the truth.”

“Who is here, in the industry, saying there is a problem?” asks Chris Tarro, owner of Siena Restaurant Group, answering “I don’t think there is a problem.”

“Don’t take my word for it,” he continues. Rather, he recommends going out to dinner and asking a server. But, “don’t ask if they want a raise, everyone would like one.”

Tarro thinks that the kind of retaliation employees face for stepping up to complain about their working conditions is somehow equivalent to the reaction of potential customers when they hear about the ways restaurants pay their employees and the ways in which many restaurants exploit their employees. “When I testified last time here,” says Tarro, “I got emails, I was on progressive blogs… there’s a penalty to us coming here.”

“I would like to give a nice big golf clap to Representative Tanzi and to anyone else who is trying to distract you from the issue at hand…” is as much as this sarcastic restaurant owner could say before being stopped by Chairperson Shekarchi, who advised not going after those who previously testified.

“I don’t want character assassination,” said Shekarchi, “It doesn’t help your cause.”

“I would suggest to you that twenty years… twenty years without a raise… I don’t think there’s anybody in this room that’s going to work for anybody for twenty years without a raise.”

Kristin Dart, speaking for Planned Parenthood, said that when women are paid more, they are better able to pay for essential medical care.”If I have to choose between food on my table and my annual health exam, I’m going to put food on the table.”

Speaking of her own experience as a server, she said that she was regularly told by her bosses that sexual harassment was “part of the job. If you want to make tips, then you have to be ‘nice’ to customers.”

Amy Barclay owns Simpatico in Jamestown. She’s worked her way up from being a server, pregnant with twins making $4500 a week to owning her own place.  She says, “This isn’t a gender issue. This isn’t a Planned Parenthood issue, this is a performance issue.” Barclay says, “I was great staff. I still am.”

Barclay has 15 core employees and 60 in season. “They beg for their jobs back,” she says, “and they should.”

Having worked in California, where there is no tipped minimum wage, and now working in Providence, Avi maintains that in California the restaurant industry is booming and that people in the restaurants out there have a greater feeling of teamwork. “It should be the employers responsibility to pay their employees, and not to pass that on to the customers.”

Ray Desmarais, of 99 Restaurants, sounded like he was blaming victims for for their harassment when he said, “For anyone to be harassed in the restaurant business, shame on them for allowing it. Leave and come work for me. Cause I’m a good guy and I’ll treat you well.”

Senator Joshua Miller says, “…there hasn’t been a minimum wage bill I didn’t love, until today, until this bill.” Miller feels this bill takes “important revenue away from some of my most valued staff.” He owns three restaurants with over 80 servers. Senator Miller, like Representative Giarrusso, sees no relationship between low wages and sexual harassment.

Justin Kelley said that “it’s time to raise the wage” in Rhode Island. Business models change, says Kelley, citing out the end of slavery, child labor and the eight hour day as examples. Compared to those changes, raising the subminimum wage should be easy.

“I think it’s a human rights issue,” says this restaurant worker from Olneyville, “I don’t care if your male or female, that minimum wage needs to come up.”

Bob Bacon is the owner of Gregg’s Restaurants and the president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. He frequently visits the State House to testify against bills that might increase a worker’s wage or strengthen a worker’s ability to not have their wages stolen. Bacon feels that the Department of Labor is doing a terrific job enforcing labor laws, and no new laws are needed. Servers make a “self-reported” average of $12.12 an hour, says Bacon.

Sam Bell, president of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, explained President Obama‘s support for increasing the minimum wage and for increasing the tipped minimum wage. “Raising the full minimum wage and the tipped minimum wage will help reduce poverty among women and families as well as make progress towards closing the gender pay gap.”

“Considering a tipped minimum wage increase… would cost ten percent of our current sales.” This begs the question: Is the entire profitability of the restaurant industry dependent on paying servers subminimum wage? Do restaurant profits come solely from underpaying staff? How do restaurants remain profitable in California, where there is no tipped minimum wage?

She finishes the evening’s testimony with, “we’re seeing servers being replaced right now with technology all over the world.”

As I’ve said before: technology like that is coming no matter what we pay our employees. The questions we need to be asking in the face of new technologies are bigger than minimum wage increases, such questions go to the heart of our economic system, and whether it’s sustainable in the long term.