Come election day, Massachusetts voters will be asked to cast their vote on five ballot measures appended to their standard general election ballots. One such measure pertains to the minimum wage for tipped workers.
Though the state has adopted a minimum wage of $15 an hour, employers may pay tipped workers an hourly wage as low as $6.75, provided their tips are sufficient to make up the difference. Workers whose tips do not get them to the $15 mark receive an employer tip credit of up to $8.25 an hour to pad their wages.
If approved, Question 5 would put into motion a gradual increase in the minimum wage for tipped workers, such that it would be equal to the state minimum wage by 2029. Once this goal has been reached, the measure would enable employers to pool tips with non-tipped employees such as cooks and bookkeepers should they choose to do so.
Grace McGovern, part-time server/bartender and worker-organizer for One Fair Wage Massachusetts, supports question 5. She described how the current system seems unfair to tipped workers like herself.
“I get penalized because I have to literally give up $8.25 per hour just to be able to work there. $8.25 an hour — that’s not even 50/50,” she said. “That means that I’m giving my employer more money than he is giving me.”
To McGovern, question five would provide a solution for the “subminimum wage.”
According to Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis (cSPA), question 5 is a matter of “shifting who should cover” the entire cost of the minimum wage.
Stephen, a server/bartender in Davis Square who was granted partial anonymity out of concern for his employment, is in favor of the proposed increase in the minimum wage. Considering the effort required for service industry jobs, Stephen said the current system could do more to support him.
“Right now I’m not complaining about it, but it could be better. The way my bar works is that if no one comes in [and] if I don’t make tips, I get $15 no matter what. I actually have to for sure get the minimum wage no matter what,” he said.
Stephen plans to cast his vote against Question 5 this November, largely due to its provision on tip sharing with non-customer-facing employees.
“If it’s gonna mix both the front of the house and back of the house, I’m gonna say no. That’s the one thing that is really a make it or break it for me. … I love the back of the house, but at the same time, it’s not the same [work],” he said.
Unlike many employees against tip pooling, McGovern sees its potential benefits. “I am a strong proponent of tip pooling. I think it encourages teamwork and it also eliminates a lot of biases,” she said.
McGovern also noted that the decision to pool tips would not be mandated and would instead be left up to the decision of individual business owners.
“It does not require or mandate a tip share with the back-of-house. It simply allows for that to be the case once all workers are paid a full minimum wage. So the second part of the question wouldn’t really come into effect until 2029 and it is also not enforcing anything,” she said.
Jessica Muradian is the director of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, one of the largest groups advocating for a ‘no’ vote on Question 5. Though she acknowledges the measure does not mandate back-of-house tip sharing, she believes that the vast majority of restaurant owners will opt to pool tips if given the opportunity.
“We have hundreds [of servers and bartenders] that have donated to the “No on Five” campaign because they know that if the tip pool expands, they are going to make less than they do now, even if the wages come up,” she said.
Muradian further argued that service industry work is fundamentally different from the type of work that merits an hourly wage.
“I talk to servers and bartenders and what they say is ‘I got into the service industry because … I’m able to walk out with as much money as I can possibly make by working hard and giving good service.’ So they aren’t looking for that Monday through Friday 9-5, and they’re also saying that they aren’t minimum wage employees so ‘Don’t insult us and tell us that we are.’” she said.
