On Tuesday, August 27, Waffle House workers across three locations in Atlanta held a speakout and rally outside of Centennial Park after delivering their demands to the fast food chain. This is in protest of Waffle House announcing that they would change the way that workers receive credit card tips: instead of workers being paid the tips they earned daily after working their shifts, workers would only be provided with these tips weekly. Waffle House workers were joined by the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), which seeks to organize one of the most marginalized demographics in labor in the US: low wage service workers in the South.
“Waffle House is changing the credit card policy so that we aren’t paid out every day. Workers will be worse off for this, including me. Getting my tips at the end of the day means I can pay for gas,” said Cindy Smith, who has worked at a Waffle House in Conyers, Georgia for 29 years. “We won raises from organizing, but the raises won’t be fully rolled until 2026/2027. We should not have to wait so long. They have the money to do it now, so they should. We are struggling now, and they know it.”
Waffle House workers have been organizing recently alongside the burgeoning USSW, and as Smith mentioned, won a major raise in June after months of campaigning. Worker organizers claim that this victory is a result of pressure put on the company by workers. As Katie Giede, a Waffle House worker in Covington, Georgia, told Peoples Dispatch in June, the real reason behind Waffle House’s announcement is that “we have been applying pressure, going on strike, delivering demand letters.” Workers are “building a wall that they can’t get around.”
Waffle House workers continue to keep this pressure up today. Workers are demanding not only tips in a timely manner, but also safety at work, as workers claim that Waffle House makes workers work through dangerous natural disasters, an end to paycheck deductions, as Waffle House deducts a “meal credit” of at least USD 3 per shift, whether or not workers eat the meal the company provides, and fair wage. Despite raises, workers continue to demand USD 25/per hour as a real living wage.
“Since I started working at Waffle House, I’ve lived in a motel. I can’t afford to get an apartment with how much Waffle House pays me. They cut my hours, so I owe 200$ to the motel right now.” said Kat Steach, a server of 7 months at a Waffle House in Athens, Georgia. “My phone is off, I’ve been using the motel wifi, but can’t receive phone calls or texts. I hand wash my clothes because I can’t afford to take them to the laundromat. I’ve been eating crotons every day from a salad kit someone donated to me to get by. If I eat at work, and don’t finish my meal, I still can’t bring it home unless I pay full price. I do all this work and I can’t take home a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich?”
