Chrissy Teigen spearheaded a celebrity fundraiser at Ladyhawke in West Hollywood on Thursday night to advocate for One Fair Wage, a national organization pushing further raises to the minimum wage for servers in the hospitality industry.
The “Server for an Hour” fundraiser, hosted by One Fair Wage and chaired by Teigen, aimed to bring attention to the need to increase wages, eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers, and enhance working conditions for millions of restaurant employees, including waiters, bartenders, and bussers, who currently endure low wages.
Teigen, a model and internet personality, lives with her husband, musician John Legend, in West Hollywood’s Tri-West neighborhood.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before the event, she reflected on her past work in the restaurant industry.
“A lot of us here have backgrounds in this industry. I used to be a hostess,” Teigen said. “For the last 30 years, the sub-minimum wage has been $3.13. It’s crazy. It’s unacceptable.”
One Fair Wage seeks to eliminate sub-minimum wages and advoctes for fair pay for all workers, particularly those in industries like food service where tipping is common. The group works to ensure that tipped workers—such as servers, bartenders, and other hospitality staff—receive full minimum wages in addition to tips, rather than being paid a lower base wage and relying primarily on tips to make up the difference.
The group is closely aligned with the UNITE HERE Local 11 special-interest union, and the two are currently working to pass Prop 32, which would raise the minimum wage to $17 for the remainder of 2024, and then bump it up to $18 an hour starting in January 2025 — a significant rise from the current $16. Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be required to start paying at least $17 next year, and $18 in 2026.
The night’s speakers, including Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman, echoed similar sentiments. Jayaraman highlighted the progress made since the previous year’s fundraiser, noting that funds raised helped secure a significant wage increase for over a million workers in Michigan, with wages going from $3.87 to $15 an hour, plus tips. “That’s $10 billion a year going into the pockets of low-wage workers,” Jayaraman explained.
A host of celebrities, such as Keegan-Michael Key, June Diane Raphael, Jesse Tyler-Ferguson, Matt Bomer, and Ike Barinholtz, volunteered as servers at West Hollywood’s LadyHawk restaurant, taking orders and delivering food to guests.
