PA lawmakers scold Applegreen for cutting turnpike worker wages

In response to previous Keystone reporting, Democratic state senators sent Applegreen a letter asking if its CEO was also willing to take a pay cut.

Democrats in the Pennsylvania Senate are furious with Applegreen, who owns and operates 17 rest areas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, after they cut employee wages by $3 per hour this month, and replaced those lost wages with tips. 

State Sen. John Kane (D-Delaware), along with 10 colleagues, penned a letter to Applegreen CEO Robert Etchingham denouncing the pay cuts, and asking if he is taking a pay cut, as well.

“You claim that cutting wages from $14 an hour to $11 an hour ‘provides our associates with the opportunity to earn more’ through tips. In reality, you are shifting the burden of paying your employees onto the backs of Pennsylvania travelers while you continue operating a multinational corporation with the resources to do better,” the senators’ letter said. 

The Keystone reported that Applegreen cut employee wages and replaced them with tips after an employee launched a petition demanding the company to rescind the cuts. 

“[Applegreen] kind of did their best to label this as a really good thing and we’re gonna make so much more money. But in actuality, it’s going to be really rare for us to make enough in tips to cover the wage cut and then go home with any money after that,” Abigail Lukehart, an Applegreen employee, told The Keystone in an interview this month. 

“It’s really just ripping us off pretty bad because we’re used to going home with maybe $20 in cash a night. It’s also ripping the customers off because when they tap their card and they click $2 tip, they think that they’re awarding us for our good service, but, it’s just helping the company not have to pay us a livable wage,” she added.

Applegreen explained in a previous statement that the changes are a trial that will run for a month, and they will decide whether to keep the new policy  following employee and customer feedback. 

“If you cannot afford to pay your employees a fair wage without leaning on customers to subsidize your payroll, then you should be in business and you should not certainly be doing business in our Commonwealth,” the lawmakers said in their letter.