Darden Restaurants Inc., the company whose 28,000 workers serve at Red Lobster, Olive Garden and the upscale Capital Grille restaurants, found itself on the defensive in September, as CEO Clarence Otis tried to explain to shareholders why year after year earnings per share dropped and restaurant servers labored under a $2.13 per hour federal “tipped” minimum wage, with no paid sick leave.

For the millions of mothers who work in restaurants, it's hard enough to balance work with the responsibility of raising your children right. But a recent survey shows that many employers seem to not only not care, but they act as if they are purposefully trying to make things harder for moms. From subminimum wages to lack of career mobility, working mothers face a wide array of challenges that make their lives harder and less rewarding.

The restaurant industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. With hefty profit margins exceeding those of major retail chains such as Walmart and Target, the restaurant industry is expected to create up to a  million more jobs by 2020 . Many restaurants tout job creation yet pay some of the lowest wages to their employees. These low wages hinder people's ability to afford child care. 

Two new studies succinctly lay out the need for and the broad economic benefits of raising the federal minimum wage .

The Kids Count Data Book finds that the number of children living in poverty jumped by 3 million from 2005 to 2011—years marked by stagnant wages—and now 23% of the nation’s children live in poverty.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers ( ROC ) United shows that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, as legislation in Congress would do, would boost more than half of the working poor in the United States out of poverty.

It's hard to argue with fairness. Pointing out the injustices for dancers in the music video industry is exactly how choreographer and chair of the Dancers' Alliance Galen Hooks found momentum around gaining basic workplace safety and benefits. Something as simple as a water break during an eight-hour video shoot (sometimes in the desert) and access to chairs were workplace safety and health basics  dancers simply did not have. But that all changed when the power of collective action spread across the dancer community, which often was hard to organize because of the nature of the business: multiple employers, different jobs every day and competition from fellow dancers who'll take any job (even if it's unpaid).

Join Saru Jayaraman on Wednesday, June 12, from 2–3 p.m. EDT for  the sixth in the AFL-CIO series of live online discussions on how we build a movement for the future of working people . Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of the  Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) —and the AFL-CIO—want to hear your ideas. She poses this question:

Coming on the heels of the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA's) "lobby day" on Capitol Hill, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) announced the formation of Restaurants Advancing Industry Standards in Employment (RAISE). While the NRA represents and lobbies on behalf of the interests of some of the country’s largest chain restaurant corporations, RAISE is an alternative restaurant association made up of nearly 100 business owners across the country, advocating for the real needs of the industry, as well as the workers it employs.

Saru Jayaraman, co-director and co-founder of  ROC-United , will appear on HBO's " Real Time with Bill Maher " tonight at 10 p.m. EDT   to discuss the importance of raising the tipped minimum wage for our country's 10 million restaurant workers. 

If you have HBO, be sure to tune in. 

If you think a tip for a server at your favorite restaurant is a gesture of recognition for good service, you're mistaken. 

“People think a tip is extra, to show gratitude for really good service, but it’s really not,” said Daisy Chung, executive director of the  Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York , an advocacy group for restaurant workers. “Consumers should really know that they’re subsidizing workers’ wages, it’s not on top of it. You’re making up the difference for the fact that someone doesn’t make minimum wage.”

According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, more than 40 million Americans work in jobs where they have no access to paid sick days. In addition to the potential loss of wages and jobs for working families, the lack of paid sick days forces many people to go to work when they are contagious and get co-workers and customers sick and decreases productivity for workers who show up unable to perform to their normal level of ability. More and more cities and states are recognizing the realities of the damage having a workforce without paid sick leave does to workers and to the economy.