Applegreen tried to cut rest stop worker pay in PA, Democrats fought back

wanted to cut wages from $14 to $11 and replace lost pay with tips

Applegreen, the Irish company embroiled in a controversial 35 year rest stop bid in Massachusetts, tried to cut wages in Pennsylvania earlier this month from $14 to $11 and allow workers to make up the difference with tips.

But the plan met with widespread opposition led by powerful Democrats and Applegreen which operates 17 service plazas in the keystone state backed off the wage cut plan last week.

“Cutting wages is not ‘pro-worker.’ Applegreen slashed pay for PA Turnpike rest stop workers from $14 → $11/hour, forcing families to rely on tips just to scrape by. My Senate Democratic colleagues & I sent this letter demanding they reverse this shameful decision,” state Senator John Kane wrote on X.

In a letter to employees along the 360 mile Pennsylvania Turnpike August 3, Applegreen explained you: “will now be eligible to participate in a tip pool that includes both credit card and cash tips collected during the shifts that you work each week.”

Employees want a $16 wage with tips on top.

“The company wanted to spread (the tips) out as much as they could so they could get away with paying us as little as possible,” employee Abigail Lukehart-Rummell told the Bedford Gazette.

Senator Kane asked Applegreen CEO Bob Etchingham (see full letter below) “When you decided to cut the hourly wages of Pennsylvania Turnpike rest stop workers, did you cut your own pay to match theirs?”