
by Gabrielle Okun
NEW YORK – Actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s gala to raise the minimum wage in the restaurant industry backfired when some of its own servers protested the dinner Monday.
Parker’s “Dinner with Friends” event is facing backlash from people within the restaurant industry — the very people the gala is supposedly trying to help out, the New York Post reported. The exclusive gala’s tickets are going for as much as $50,000, with dinner starting at $500 a head. The lofty costs are aimed at fundraising for the One Fair Wage campaign. However, the sheer cost is met with objection from people within the industry believing that raising the minimum wage will put people in the industry out of jobs.
EXCLUSIVE: A fundraiser hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker to promote minimum wage hikes is taking unusual steps to avoid an embarrassing protest https://t.co/zhVWuIm0He
— New York Post (@nypost) May 21, 2018
“I’ve been contacted by dozens of servers who were interested in protesting this event,” Joshua Chaisson, a Maine bartender who also represents the Restaurant Workers of America, told the New York Post. “They were particularly furious about a $50,000-per-table fundraiser to harm our industry, attended by people who don’t work in our industry.”
Parker will join actors Hill Harper and Erika Alexander for the event. It starts at 6 p.m. and guests have access to the address after registering, according to One Fair Wage’s website. Guests can also shell out $1,000 to get a photo with Parker.
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