I work at a pub n' club near the beach in north carolina.
The fellows that have joint owner-ship of the place also own several other restaurants and bars around town.
At the place that I work-
They pay their bartenders, 2.13 an hour plus shared tips.
They pay barbacks, 6.15 an hour plus tipout of 2% of total sales.
no questions there, that seems 'on the square'.
However, they (the owners) have had trouble keeping any managers for very long, and have a couple of past managers who quit because they couldn't put up with...what I don't know....but the owners seem to be hard to deal with. They always come in the bar, run up huge tabs(which we have to pay out on),and don't pay for them, nor leave anything as a tip. Not very appreciative people, and I know from other instances and reports from other people that they don't have much regard for labor laws.

Recently, the newest managment team put up a list of 'cleaning party' dates on the bulletin board. These 'parties' are mandatory and unpaid; unless you want to clock in, yet bartenders end up being taxed on the hours more than it is worth for clocking in. So essentially no clock-ins and they just work unpaid for several hours. amazing!! 20 people, all working for free, and not because they volunteered; but because they 'might/will' be discriminated against for not doing so.
When i asked how they (mgmt) could make it mandatory and not pay; they got defensive and said, "well it's not mandatory but if you don't show up, it shows that you don't 'appreciate' working here and determines who belongs and who doesn't".

I started looking for labor laws that govern such things, and am not sure where to look. But I know that you can't work for free, and be 'made' to do it; without recompense of some physical kind.
Slavery is dead in america, right?

bartenders end up being taxed on the hours more than it is worth for clocking in.

I don't understand how that works.

Bottom line is you cannot volunteer to do work for your employer.

You work, you get paid.

The kind of work described should be paid at minimum wage or more. No sub-minimum pay as would be appropriate for wait staff doing wait staff work.