Sep. 3--As a skycap at Tucson International Airport, Abe Dominguez relies on tips to get by. 

With an hourly wage of $2.58, he's developed a squirrel's habit of putting earnings aside for leaner times, especially during the slow summer season. 

"You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't know we work on tips," the 26-year-old Tucson native said. "But there's nothing we can do because we can't solicit." 

As the debate rolls on in Congress over whether to raise the minimum wage, one large group of workers is largely left out of the discussion: tipped workers whose hourly wage is below the federal standard. 

More than 2 million people work as waiters and waitresses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they make up a huge segment of tipped workers. There are many more workers who rely on tips: skycaps, bellhops, valet attendants, taxi drivers, some car wash workers and people in many other occupations. 

In Tucson, more than 25,000 people work in restaurants and bars and more than 9,000 work in hotels, according to the state Department of Economic Security. Together they make up about 10 percent of all jobs here. 

Even with tips, Dominguez, who is single, can't get by on his skycap income, which averages about $14,000 a year. He gets his $2.58 per hour plus tips -- the suggested tip is $1 a bag but actual tips vary widely, he said. 

To supplement that, he works 20 hours a week in home health care. 

He survives the summer by scaling back on his leisure activities, taking in $2 movies instead of $7 shows and just "cutting back on everything." 

In theory, tipped workers should still make minimum wage if the company they work for is required to pay minimum wage. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer must pay a "tipped employee" at least $2.13 an hour. If tips do not push the employee's wages to $5.15 an hour -- the federal minimum wage -- the employer must make up the difference. 

But one kink in that system is that many businesses are exempt from the federal minimum wage. Exempt employers are those who have annual gross receipts below $500,000 and who do not engage in interstate commerce. That includes manufacturers of goods shipped to out-of-state customers, call centers dealing with out-of-state clients or restaurants that handle credit card transactions. 

It's conceivable that a waitress who processes credit card transactions is getting the federal minimum wage while the cooks, busboys and other waitresses aren't, said Pam Yerger, district director of the federal Wage and Hour Division in Phoenix. 

"Restaurants and fast-food establishments are a source of a high number of complaints," she said. "They hear that minimum wage is $5.15 and call us when they don't get it." 

In Arizona, exempt employers are under no obligation to pay a wage at all. The state is one of seven that does not have its own minimum wage standards. Nationwide, 30 states have minimum wage laws that mirror the federal law, nine have wages higher and four set it below the federal rate. 

The last effort to institute a state minimum wage here fizzled in the legislature about 13 years ago, said Pete Rios, a state Senate Democrat from Hayden. 

"It just seems that the business community and Republicans have been able to keep it out," he said. 

That affects workers such as Lynn Williams, a waitress for five years at Mama Louisa's Italian Restaurant near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. 

The 24-year-old single mother is conscious of each patron's tip because, at $2.13 an hour base pay, her weekly paycheck -- without tips -- is often not even enough to fill her car gas tank twice. 

"With the dinner crowd, I usually get my 15 percent tip," she said. "The lunch crowd is a little different." 

Her pay is dependent on tips and, most of the time, it's enough to live on, she said. 

"Most people my age go out to a bar or something," she said. "I don't. I stay home. If I have anything left over at the end of the month I usually buy my daughter an outfit or toys." 

Her paycheck doesn't always equal minimum wage, but she said she still prefers getting paid in tips. "I couldn't wait a whole week to get paid," she said. "I'm used to getting money daily." 

Eventually she would like to go to Pima Community College and radiology school. "It's kind of scary," she said of being at the mercy of her customers' tips. "But during the summer I was pretty busy and the fall is usually good." 

Some economists maintain that businesses get the best end of the deal when it comes to tipped employees. 

In 1999, waiters and waitresses made about $6.17 an hour including tips, according to the Labor Department. Jeff Wenger, an economist at the Economy Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said if employers only pay $2.13 an hour, they are off the hook for two-thirds of the worker's income. And many of those jobs don't offer health or other benefits. 

"This is a grossly neglected sector of our work force," he said. "Why are millions of workers not covered by federal minimum wage laws and why has no one raised this as a serious issue?" 

He places responsibility on business lobbyists in Congress. In 1991, Congress passed a minimum wage increase but froze the floor on the minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13. Before that, tipped workers were guaranteed at least half of the federal minimum wage. 

One reason for the lack of outcry may be that many tipped workers prefer it that way. 

Melissa Kane, a bartender at the Desert Garden Lounge at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, said she enjoys the challenge of relying on tips. 

"If you're good at your job and confident in yourself, you can make enough to live on," she said. 

With Tucson such a seasonal town, tipped employees need to find a way to get through the slow periods, she added. 

"If you get cynical about it being slow, you won't make it," Kane said. "Even when it's slow, you have more time to relate to the customers." 

Kane's hourly pay is slightly below minimum wage, but most of her money comes from tips. On a good night in the busy season, she can make $200 to $300 a night in tips. On a slow summer night, it might only be $40 to $50. 

She said the best tippers are others in the service industry. They consistently give 20 percent or better, she said. 

"We all work with the public and we all know what it's like to depend on tips," she said. 

Jeff Dick has driven a cab since 1972. During good years he's made as much as $35,000, he said. But the past few years haven't been so good. If it doesn't pick up this year, it could be his last behind the wheel of cab. 

"Lately I've been making $40 a day after a 15-hour day," he said. 

Because he leases his cab from a company for a daily rate and pays for his own gas, slow periods in the summer can be brutal. He said he needs to cover those costs first before he starts making money. 

"Some guys don't help with luggage or groceries," he said. "I do. Every run is money." 

Tips usually range from 10 to 15 percent of the fare. But not everybody tips. Mexican customers often don't tip because they aren't familiar with the custom, but his biggest tip of $100 came from a wealthy Mexican he drove to Nogales. 

"People from big cities tend to tip better because they are used to it," he said. "Business people on accounts usually tip and people going to the resorts." 

Dick is not eligible for the federal minimum wage because he is an independent contractor. 

Dominguez, the skycap, knows he could make more at a bigger airport such as Sky Harbor International in Phoenix. But he doesn't like the city's heat and traffic. 

But unless he could earn $8 to $9 an hour, he'll keep working for tips. 

"If it's minimum wage, I'd rather get tips," he said. "With tips, you can do better than the minimum wage." 

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(c) 2001, The Arizona Daily Star. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. HOT,