Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at an April press conference in Queens, New York.JEENAH MOON/ReutersRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got back to her bartending roots on Friday.
The 29-year-old Bronx native poured a few drinks and waited a few tables at a restaurant in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens during an event organized by Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United.
Ocasio-Cortez is attempting to build support for the federal Raise the Wage Act, which would double the minimum wage by 2024, as well as New York State's One Fair Wage, which would mandate that tipped workers are paid at least the minimum wage.
In many states across the country, including New York, tipped workers can be paid less than the minimum wage by their employers. Tipped workers are disproportionately women and people of color, and critics say the policy encourages wage theft and makes workers more vulnerable to sexual harassment on the job.
Ocasio-Cortez worked as a bartender at a Manhattan taqueria up until early spring of 2018 - just a few months before she shocked the political world by winning her insurgent primary bid against longtime House incumbent Joe Crowley.
.@AOC back behind the bar pouring red wine and talking federal minimum wage boost for tipped workers during event in Jackson Heights. pic.twitter.com/amfaRnZ4tp
- Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) May 31, 2019Reporting from Queens, where @AOC is waiting tables in support of a living wage for tipped workers. pic.twitter.com/B8xsr3jx57
- Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) May 31, 2019Here's @AOC who is ready to jump behind the bar this evening to call attention to the tipped worker minimum wage: pic.twitter.com/zK6sl6fEFM
- Gloria Pazmino (@GloriaPazmino) May 31, 2019.@AOC is bartending/waiting tables again for an hour, to draw attention to the push to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers pic.twitter.com/ZGmzEquQk7
- Vivian Wang (@vwang3) May 31, 2019Images of @AOC waiting tables and making drinks in Queens in support of higher wages for tipped workers.
The federal subminimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13. Only seven states require tipped workers be paid the actual minimum wage.
New York is not one of them. pic.twitter.com/ubC6z9lgIJ
- Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) May 31, 2019