It's 2/13 - and they make $2.13 (an hour)

As part of their efforts to draw attention to working conditions for restaurant employees, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Maine is holding a rally today (2/13) to highlight the fact that tipped workers, including many restaurant staff, earn a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour - roughly 1/3 of the federal minimum wage and 28 percent of Maine's minimum wage for non-tipped workers.

The ROC-Maine is calling for that to be increased at the federal level to 60 percent of the federal minimum wage. Today, that would mean $3.93 per hour, and on July 24, when the federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 for non-tipped workers, it would jump to $4.35 per hour.

Of course, tips would be extra on top of that. And we could project that restaurants might hike prices to help cover the pay increase for so many workers - meaning the bill's total amount, on which a tip would be based, could be higher, resulting not only in a higher per-hour wage, but also a higher tip amount.