Massachusetts Voters Reject Measure Raising Wages for Tipped Workers
(Washington, D.C.) Massachusetts voters have rejected Question 5, a ballot measure that would have phased out the current two-tiered pay system for tipped workers over five years.
The current minimum wage for tipped employees in Massachusetts is $6.75 an hour, before tips, but it’s $15 an hour for non-tipped workers. Under Question 5, employers would have been required to pay tipped employees the full state minimum wage as a base. Over 70% of tipped workers in Massachusetts are women—and 21.3% are women of color.
“Tipped workers in Massachusetts who struggle with low pay, rampant wage theft, and high poverty rates—and who organized to improve their wages and work conditions through Question 5—got bad news tonight: They won’t be getting the raise they fought for. We share their disappointment and frustration that the well-financed Massachusetts Restaurant Association has—for now—notched a victory in defeating Question 5,” said Julie Vogtman, senior director for job quality at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). “The restaurant industry’s claims that ending the subminimum wage and giving tipped workers a raise would crush their industry are just wrong and belied by evidence.”
In the seven “One Fair Wage” states where employers already have to pay tipped workers the full minimum wage, before tips, NWLC analysis shows that earnings for tipped workers are higher, poverty is lower, gender wage gaps are smaller—and restaurants still thrive.
“Despite this setback in Massachusetts, worker-driven momentum for One Fair Wage continues to build: Michigan, along with the District of Columbia and Chicago, are all phasing out subminimum wages for tipped workers.”