Business & Tech
Restaurateurs Rail Against Waitress Wage Increase
Tipped worker wages would increase from $2.63 per hour to $5.50 per hour. That has some restaurant owners fighting back.
Posted by Roberto Scalese
The Massachusetts Restaurant Association is ready to fight back against a proposed increase in the tipper worker minimum wage, according to the Boston Business Journal. Tipped workers, like waitresses, currently make $2.63 an hour, and many get a paycheck with no money at all because of taxes withheld.
In the minimum wage bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday, the tipped worker minimum wage would increase to 50 cents an hour next year, and settle at $5.50 by the middle of 2016.
That's too much, according to the restaurant group. Restaurants already have to pay the difference if a waiter's combined tips and wages don't meet the state's $8 an hour minimum wage for non-tipped workers. The group also noted that waiters and waitresses in Massachusetts already enjoy the highest combined salary and tips earnings in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What do you think? Is $2.63 an hour too low for waiters and waitresses to make in an hour? Does that low wage factor in your decision on how much to tip? Would you tip less if waitresses earned more? Tell us in the comments below.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.