Island Opposition Builds Against Ballot Question 5, A Proposed Minimum Wage Increase For Tipped Workers

Massachusetts voters will be faced with a ballot question next month seeking to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers from $6.75 to $15 an hour, a change that could have far-reaching impacts on Nantucket’s restaurant industry and the island’s large population of service workers.

With just weeks to go before the vote on November 5, Nantucket restaurant owners appear united in opposition to Question 5, along with many of their tipped employees. They see the proposal as too far-reaching and cost-prohibitive for independent establishments to survive on an island where it is already extremely expensive to operate a restaurant.

"Voting yes on Question 5 will break the restaurant industry, as it cannot sustain paying both front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house high hourly wages," said Pi Pizzeria co-owner Maria Marley. "If it is forced to, two things will happen. One: prices will have to go up to support pay. Two: service will suffer. Servers are driven by providing great service, knowing they will see a solid tip out on their efforts. My perspective is it will cripple the industry. Restaurants will be hard-pressed to pay servers a high hourly (wage) with no tipping. There is a lot to be said for going to work and walking home with tips at the end of the night. Tips also drive service - service a career. Why the government is driven to control all aspects of capitalism is terrifying. The restaurant industry is not broken. It does not need to be fixed."

Ballot Question 5 was sponsored by One Fair Wage, an advocacy organization that has lobbied for similar efforts in other states, including Michigan and Washington D.C. If passed, the proposal would incrementally bring the minimum wage for tipped workers into line with the state’s general minimum wage over the next five years, and would also allow businesses to pool tips and distribute the profits to traditionally non-tipped workers such as back-of-the-house employees in restaurants.

But many in the Nantucket restaurant industry who spoke to the Current about the proposal has expressed opposition to Question 5 and not just those who own island establishments.

"I am quite content as to what I make as a bartender under the current arrangement," said John Tiffany, a bartender at Queequeg's restaurant in downtown Nantucket. "So are the waitstaff. The effect of this nonsense would chill tips - less money - and put a real strain on restaurant owners. All one has to do is look at California and see places shuttering at alarming rates because of this insanity. The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Ryan Raska, another island bartender and restaurant manager, said the measure would be "horrible" for both staff and customers.

Restaurant industry representatives, including the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, are also against the proposal, which they believe will increase consumer prices, hurt the economy, and not achieve its desired goal of increasing the wages of tipped workers.

“Eliminating the tipped wage would be especially harmful to small and independent Massachusetts restaurants and those who serve in these communities,” the Association wrote in a statement. “These significant changes would be crippling to the restaurant, food service, and hospitality industry, which is already struggling with nearly three years of historically high inflation driven by the pandemic.”

Opponents point to the fact that employers are already required to make up the difference if a worker’s wages and tips combined amount to less than $15 an hour.

"Restaurants in Massachusetts already ensure an employee makes a minimum wage," said Orla LaScola, co-owner of The Proprietors restaurant on India Street. "If passed, it will take the control of gratuity away from employees. It’s not really needed. The only time a staff member would be making less than minimum wage is when they’re training, and we then pay them at that time. We’ve never paid less than minimum wage to anyone, ever. Massachusetts already has the protections for employees in place. This feels like another elevated cost to do business at our level, which is already high. It’s reactionary to the lower end of the business, places that aren’t Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard and Boston, and they're forced to react to those places that aren’t doing right by their employees."

While much of One Fair Wage's outreach on Question 5 has targeted "big restaurant corporations," the mom-and-pop restaurants of Nantucket believe the measure would restrain the earnings of some workers while making it more difficult for the establishments to survive in an already expensive, competitive market. 

"Locally, for my crew, they don’t want it at all," said Debba Pitcock, general manager and managing partner at The Rose & Crown. "I have career bartenders and servers who’ve been with me for years, and none of them want it. They’re really good at what they do and make a lot of money doing what they do. They all feel, myself included, the amount of money they could make would be greatly hindered with the $15 minimum wage. They work really hard for their money. One of the things I pride myself on is that we have a really good staff who get great reviews and get people to come in and come back. To have a $15 minimum wage, I can’t absorb that cost. That cost goes into my pricing, and I don’t know how much higher I can go and feel good about what we’re charging. It’s ostensibly doubling my payroll if we had to do that. With a $15 per hour minimum for every person in the front of the house, I don’t know how we’d do it. For single-unit operators or two-restaurant operators, it would be almost impossible, especially out here, given what we pay for rent. We really don’t have any wiggle room."

But opposition to the ballot question is not unanimous on Nantucket. Some current and former workers in the island restaurant industry told the Current that they believe increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers would provide them with more financial stability.

"Six dollars an hour isn't much on a slow day, especially when we can't control whether it's busy or not," said one server at a downtown restaurant who asked to remain anonymous. "So it's a full-time job with unreliable living wages. Legally, minimum wage has to be paid if tips plus the $6 per hour doesn't add up to the state minimum hourly wage but it's usually just short."

Nicole LeBlanc, who grew up on Nantucket and worked a tipped job for several summers, said: “Bottom line: raising the minimum wage is just going to give everyone security. If you’re working a lunch shift and it’s 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky, you’re not making anything. It’s tough to have a job where you don’t know what you’re going to walk home with.”

Proponents of Question 5 also argue that the law requiring employers to make up the difference if a worker’s wages and tips combined amount to less than $15 an hour is often subverted in practice, and violations are difficult to prove in court. Several workers spoken to for this article indicated they were not even aware that employers had to make up the difference. Even when they are aware, they may not ask for compensation out of fear of reprisal.

“We're afraid to speak up to the manager because we don't want to be on their bad side or not be picked up for shifts,” said Bishaka Dhamala, who worked a tipped job on Nantucket for many years.

While the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce has not taken a stand in favor or in opposition to the ballot question, executive director Peter Burke shared some concerns that have been expressed to him through conversations with island restaurant owners and staff.

"I believe this ballot question proposes a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, because of the current state law already in place," Burke said. "The proposed change represents an increase of $17,160 per employee per year that a business would need to budget for. A restaurant with two bartenders and four servers is looking at a payroll jump of $85,000. I have had conversations with a handful of restaurateurs, whose privacy I will respect but share the same sentiment. There is no magic pool of money to fund this. There are only so many levers that can be pulled. A restaurant would need to raise prices, reduce staff, trim staff expenses like benefits, or reduce other employees' wages that are currently above the minimum. More drastically, restaurants could change models to fast casual or counter service - essentially another way to reduce staff - or close."

Clay Evans, who is serving as One Fair Wage's organizer for the South Shore and the Cape and Islands, said the group believes Ballot Question 5 would result in increased wages for most workers in the service industry. He cited endorsements from former Senator Hillary Clinton and the group Progressive Mass.

"We find that in the seven states where One Fair Wage is law, restaurant and bar employees earn 10-20 percent more in income per year than in states where One Fair Wage is not the law," Evans said. "Currently we find we find that because of fluctuations and lack of wage enforcement, the passage of Question 5 would increase yearly income for tipped workers by as much as $17,160. When I tell people in tipped professions this, they support us enthusiastically."

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey recently announced her opposition to ballot question 5 in an interview with WGBH radio, as reported by the State House House News Service.

Healey said Question 5 "is a well-intentioned effort brought by out-of-state interests."I think it's important to vote 'no' on this. Because I think you run the risk of closing restaurants and putting these workers out of work, actually. Because the restaurant owners I speak [to] are not going to be able to afford this, and they're going to end up laying off people. In some instances, some have told me they're just going to shut down."

Tipped minimum wage applies to far more than just restaurant employees. Other professions that can be paid less than the state minimum wage include landscapers, cab drivers, and housecleaners, all professions traditionally not tipped as well as waiters.

The Massachusetts ballot question is not the first of its kind. Washington, D.C., passed a similar proposal in 2022 with almost 74% of the vote. Preliminary data suggests that restaurant owners are deeply unhappy with the change, but employees seem to be making more money, even adjusted for inflation and increased consumer prices. Seven states, including California, also prohibit businesses from paying tipped workers below the minimum wage.

Via the Boston Globe:

• A yes vote would raise the tipped minimum wage over five years with the first increase lifting the floor to $9.60 an hour next year. Employers that pay tipped workers at least the state minimum wage could then pool tips with all employees, if they choose. Massachusetts would become one of seven states without a tipped wage.

• A no vote would keep the hourly tipped minimum wage at $6.75 — above the $2.13 federal minimum wage for tipped workers but below the Massachusetts minimum wage of $15. Sharing tips with workers who do not talk to customers would not be permitted.