CRI听力:A New York Restaurant Group to Introduce New Tipping Package

Mina Ekhator has been waiting tables at Colors restaurant in New York since last year. Earning a base rate of $10 per hour without tips. And with many in the industry earning less than half that- she considers herself one of the lucky ones.

And Mina says staff shouldn't have to hope for a busy night to earn a decent wage.

"It's not good. It's very anxiety producing for the server and it even starts getting into dangerous lands where if someone if foreign people are a little hesitant to serve them because maybe they don't understand tipping culture."

That's why CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group Danny Meyer wants to mix things up. While the group couldn't be reached for an interview- in a note sent to his 1,800 employees- Meyer states that hospitality is a team game and all staff should share in a restaurants success.

And he believes that eliminating tipping at his 13 full-service restaurants is the best way to achieve that.

And for Fet-ak Mam-doo (Fekkak Mamdouh) who co-founded the group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United- he says these workers deserve the same rights as any other profession.

"We are fighting the tip minimum wage, the $2.13 that exists. We want that to finish, we want to be like all other people that work in this country to have the same minimum wage. We want fair wage."

Some estimate that servers at high-end restaurants in New York can earn upwards of six figures a year thanks to tips that often range between 15-20% per meal.

But Danny Meyer argues that all staff from hosts to dishwashers deserve a fair cut.

Now with his meals set to cost about 30% more to cover the loss in tips- Behavioral expert at New York University Lee Igel says he believes customers will be willing to swallow the cost.

"No matter how much we think people don't like change, we deal with it every day through a life span so changes come, it's actually pretty normal to experience some sort of change and when it comes to something like tipping, we'll all adjust."

The Modern at the Museum of Modern Art is the first restaurant to cut tips in late November with Meyer's other establishments set to follow suit in the coming months. Now restaurant workers hope customers are willing to stomach the change.

For CRI, I'm William Denselow in New York.