Have reservations for a romantic dinner this Valentine’s Day? You are not alone. Valentine’s Day is the highest-grossing day for the $600 billion restaurant industry. This year, when you eat out on Valentine’s Day, you can share the love with the folks who will be feeding and serving you—and you can tell the world about it.

There are more than 10 million restaurant workers in the United States—one in 12 people work in the restaurant industry. But these workers earn some of the lowest wages in our nation and very few have access to benefits:

• Across the industry, more than 86% of workers are at or near the poverty level. In fact, food service workers use food stamps at twice the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce.

• For the past 21 years, the minimum wage in the United States for “tipped workers” has been frozen at $2.13 an hour. Two-thirds of those earning those sub-minimum wages are women.

• Ninety percent of the restaurant workers surveyed by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, or ROC United, report having no earned sick time, which means they face firing or lost wages if they call in sick. Two-thirds of those surveyed say they have reported to work and prepare, cook and serve food while sick. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, infected restaurant employees were identified as a contributing factor in more than 65% of U.S. foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants.

That's why this Valentine's Day we are asking you to encourage restaurants to do better by:

• Using the websites Yelp and Twitter to thank the restaurants that have taken the high road and raised employment standards for the industry. Use the ROC National Diners' Guide to find these high-road employers in your city.
• Harnessing the consumer power that leads to local food sourcing in restaurants. Speak out when you eat out. Ask the manager of the restaurant if they offer living wages for tipped and nontipped workers, as well as paid sick days and other benefits. ROC United has prepared a video that helps you use the ROC National Diners' Guide to talk to restaurant managers.
• Being part of a national movement for change in the restaurant industry. Read the book Behind the Kitchen Door to learn more about what's going on and how you can get involved.

Earned sick time is a commonsense policy that has been documented to improve public health, strengthen economic security for working families and boost our economy. Delay in bringing the workplace into the 21st century means thousands of workers in these tough times have to choose between their family's financial security and their health or the health of a child.

Across the country, cities and states have been adopting earned sick time policies to help strengthen financial security for working families and bolster the economic recovery. In the summer of 2011, Connecticut passed the first statewide earned sick time law, followed soon after by citywide laws in Seattle and Philadelphia, which added to the existing laws in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and are part of a growing momentum for legislation in Massachusetts, New York City, Portland and other states and municipalities. This Valentine's Day, please speak out when you eat out and help add to the momentum behind earned sick time and other critically needed workplace reforms.

Love the Hands That Feed You This Valentine's Day originally appeared in a Center for American Progress (CAP) email. Authors Jane Ferrell and Sarah Glynn are from CAP and Kim Haddow is with the Rockefeller Family Fund.