Ballot Question 5 in Massachusetts would change wage and tip rules in the restaurant industry

Raffaello Bruni has been working in the catering industry for three years and has worked his way up from waiter to food runner and aspiring waiter. All three restaurants he has worked in have one thing in common: he earns most of his money from individual customer tips.

“If that incentive goes away, you’re going to get worse service because what’s the point of putting in the extra effort if there’s no difference in what I get at the end of the week?,” Bruni said.

Waiters in Boston have a minimum wage of $6.75 per hour. A Grande Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, a Target toilet paper pack and a two-pack of toothbrushes from Amazon cost more. However, if a tipped employee does not earn at least $15 per hour – the national minimum wage – between the hourly wage and the tip, the employer must make up the difference.

This wage gap of $8.25 used to be larger. Under the Grand Bargain passed by the Legislature and signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker in 2018, the hourly tipped minimum wage was gradually increased from $3.75 to $6.75.

If Question 5 passes on November 5, the tipped minimum wage will gradually increase to $15 an hour by 2029, when the separate minimum wage will be eliminated. Until then, employers are still required to pay servers enough money to reach the $15 an hour mark if they don’t earn it through tips.

Grace McGovern, state director of One Fair Wage Massachusetts, which sponsored the question, said it should ensure servers have stable income, especially as inflation has taken a larger impact on earning power.

Chris Keohan, spokesman for the Committee to Protect Tips, said employers can currently only use pools for tipped employees and people who help them directly. Question 5 would expand tip pooling so that servers’ tips would be shared with all restaurant staff.

Keohan said an online survey of Massachusetts servers and bartenders in February, commissioned by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and distributed by restaurant owners, found that 91% of tipped employees opposed a possible change to tip pooling were.

“She [servers and bartenders] “I liked working for tips,” Keohan said. “It creates the opportunity to excel in your industry.”

This feeling isn’t just found among waiters and bartenders. Some Boston-area restaurant owners are encouraging their customers and passersby by saying “Vote No on Question 5” on checks and with signs outside their restaurants.

The efforts appear to have had an impact, with polls showing its popularity among the public is declining. A UMass poll in May showed 69% to 16% in favor of the issue, while a CommonWealth Beacon/WBUR poll by the MassINC Polling Group in September showed the majority had fallen to 43% to 40% in favor.

Keohan also said that customers wouldn’t know who their tips actually go to if pooling is implemented, which could result in customers tipping less and restaurants making less money overall.

Carla Gomes, the owner of Antico Forno and Terramia in the North End, agreed that if Question 5 passes, consumers may tip less because their exact server isn’t taking home all of the tip.

She also said she feared her payroll at both restaurants would increase by $18,000 a week, to a total of about $68,000 – a price she can’t afford.

“I couldn’t afford it and would probably go out of business,” Gomes said. She opened Antico Forno and Terramia 28 and 31 years ago, respectively.

Gomes said her employees now take home about $2,000 a week for 40 hours of work, but if Question 5 passes, they will leave the restaurant with $800 a week for the same number of hours of work. She said she had to raise her prices, which were already higher after the pandemic due to inflation and sellers’ price hikes.

“I sell pizza and pasta. “Can I start charging $50 for a pizza and a bowl of pasta?” Gomes said. “It’s bad enough that inflation has really destroyed the corporate economy over the last four years.”

But McGovern said inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the cost of living for everyone, including waiters who don’t even make the state minimum wage.

“Housing costs, food costs, everything has gone up, and we haven’t seen an increase in labor costs,” McGovern said. “She [servers and bartenders] A comparable wage increase should also be possible.”

She said prices don’t have to go up because of Question 5, pointing out that more than 100 restaurants in Massachusetts support the One Fair Wage campaign and pay their servers at least $15 an hour (plus tips on top). She said the statewide campaign began about a decade ago as a legislative initiative with two tips in the restaurant industry.

On the other hand, McGovern said, large restaurant chains — like Olive Garden and Applebee’s — encourage people to vote no and account for a large portion of donations to the opposing side.

Many small businesses are also opposed and are part of the Committee to Protect Tips, which works with the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

Jessica Muradian, director of government affairs for the MRA, said more than 91% of restaurants in Massachusetts are independently owned. She said passing Question 5 would hurt them by driving up consumer prices and causing waiters to go home with less money each week.

“Waiters and bartenders don’t want this,” Muradian said. “The people who are allowed to participate in tip pooling [are] will expand exponentially.”

The tip pooling provision of Question 5 does not specify who may share tips. Muradian said the pool could include an accountant or a restaurant cleaning team.

Keohan said a similar law in Washington, D.C., that went into effect last year has since led to a series of layoffs, the departure of about 4,000 servers from the restaurant industry and the imposition of service fees on consumers.

Service fees – also called service fees and kitchen fees – are the few extra dollars added to a consumer’s check to cover unclear restaurant costs. President Joe Biden said he wants to eliminate the fees, saying they are among the “junk fees” that cost Americans about $20 billion each year.

If Question 5 is successful, these fees could be added to many Boston restaurants, resulting in consumers tipping less.

Gomes said she believes the main goal of the One Fair Wage Campaign is to unionize the restaurant industry and ultimately get other industries, such as hair salons, to unionize as well.

“That’s not fair to us [restaurant owners]; It’s not fair to the consumer.”

McGovern said employees feel more dignified and respected when they are paid the state minimum wage and are more reliable workers who care more about their jobs.

“As far as higher costs go, the dollar value for the labor per hour will be higher,” she said, “but that’s a really worthwhile investment when those front-house employees are the main selling point of your entire restaurant.”

Bruni, the waiter at Momosan in Hub Hall, said he and all the bartenders at his workplace don’t want to pool their tips because it could result in waiters who don’t put in the same effort taking home the same amount of money as them .

“It’s only fair that the bartender who is professional and good at his job gets $700; Meanwhile, the guy who doesn’t care gets $300,” Bruni said. “Every single person I talked to was against it.”

New Bedford Light staff contributed to this report.