‘Up at Night’: Tipped Workers Fearful About Mass. Ballot Question to Hike Minimum Wage

Tipped workers in Massachusetts might see their minimum wage increase by more than $8 an hour if voters approve Ballot Question 5 during the Nov. 5 elections. They’re not thrilled.

While the state’s minimum wage is $15 per hour, tipped workers can be paid as little as $6.75 per hour if tips account for the remainder. Question 5 would gradually raise the minimum to $15 per hour across the board by 2029.

But in seven interviews with The Crimson, waiters and other tipped workers in the Greater Boston area said they had deep-seated fears about the proposal, which they said could cost them tips, hours, and at worst, their jobs.

“I have been up at night ever since I’ve seen this ballot initiative,” Kendra White, a server at the Friendly Toast in Burlington, said.

Question 5 is heavily promoted by advocacy group One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit aiming to equalize minimum wages for tipped and non-tipped workers. The MA One Fair Wage Coalition, which has raised more than $990,000 for the lobbying effort in favor of Question 5, says that it would prevent wage theft from big corporations and give tipped workers a more stable and equitable income.

The opposition to the measure is led by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which says the wage hike would lead to higher operating costs, lower income for servers, and rising prices for consumers. The Committee to Protect Tips, partially funded by the MRA, has raised more than $1.5 million for the lobbying effort against Question 5.

The industry group, which represents restaurant owners and operators, cites an online survey of servers and bartenders conducted by research and consulting firm CorCom Inc which found that of 351 respondents, more than 90 percent wanted to keep the system as is.

However, Question 5 supporters insist that this is not representative of all servers. OFW garnered significant support for their initiative, collecting 4,300 petitions from tipped workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to OFW Lead Organizer and tipped-worker Grace McGovern.

McGovern said that opponents to the ballot measure come from servers who have “made this system work for them,” with little focus on those still struggling to make ends meet.

“I really think that it’s unfortunate that the Restaurant Association has managed to pit a class of working people — restaurant workers — against one another, rather than all of us sticking together and advocating those who really need help the most,” McGovern said.

But to the dismay of the OFW, the opposition campaign seems to be working: servers said that they and their colleagues are overwhelmingly worried about the proposal leading to an overall decrease in tipped workers’ income.

“In my immediate life and periphery, over 50 people in the service industry,” White said, “there is not a single one of them that wants a yes vote.”

For many restaurants, the profit margin is razor thin — less than 5 percent on average, according to the National Restaurant Association. Many in the industry fear that raising the minimum wage will force restaurants to raise menu prices to compensate, making customers less likely to tip as meal prices increase.

“If you’re paying $40 for a meal, it’s hard to ask for another $8 on top of that, as opposed to if you were paying $25 for it a couple months ago,” said Sean W. Gallagher ’26, a Crimson Business editor and a server of three years.

Question 5 supporters, on the other hand, claim that menu prices will only increase marginally — citing a policy brief from the University of Massachusett Amherst suggesting that the policy was “unlikely to produce significant price increases or negative employment effects.”

The policy brief concluded that an average restaurant could account for increased costs by raising its prices by roughly 2 percent — enough to raise a $50 meal to $51.

“So when restaurant owners are telling their employees that they’re going to have to increase everything by 30 to 50 percent — if they do that, that’s price gouging,” McGovern said.

If workers’ tips and base wage do not amount to $15 per hour under current state law, their employers are legally required to account for the difference — which Gallagher said amounts to an effective $15 minimum wage regardless of base wage.

“We’re gonna make the $15 an hour without tips, if we don’t get tipped that anyways,” he said. “Why would we make it $15 an hour and disincentivize tipping and then disincentivize this being a livable career for people?”

Several also said that tips form a substantial portion of their wage, allowing them to make upwards of $50 per hour some nights.

Rima Osornio, the manager of Sol Azteca, a Mexican restaurant on Beacon Street, emphasized that the servers in her restaurant are satisfied with their current wages and tips.

“They’re making way more than $15 an hour. So I don't think they’re unhappy with their pay,” Osornio said.

The ballot measure comes as politicians and policymakers nationwide have increasingly turned their attention to tipped workers. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris pledged to eliminate taxes on tips as part of their presidential campaigns, and a minimum wage hike for tipped workers is also on the ballot in Illinois.

But servers and industry experts say that the minimum wage proposal is not as rosy as it may appear: full-service restaurants in Washington D.C. lost 1,800 jobs in the nearly two years since voters approved a similar measure, according to the restaurant association.

Annie T. Walsh, who has worked in the service industry for nearly a decade, emphasized concerns of how those outside of the industry will perceive the question.

“I understand how it would definitely sound like a fantastic idea, because, of course, we want everyone to be making a living minimum wage,” Walsh said.

But White, the Friendly Toast server, urged voters not to take the ballot question at “face value.”

“There will be consequences to this. There will be job loss, and at the end of the day, my ideology is, I’m pro-worker,” White said.

“‘Yes’ — on so many levels — will be devastating for so many people who rely on this industry to make their living,” she added.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.