Opposition to tipped worker pay increase rolls out ad campaign
Photo | WBJ File
Citing a Mass. Restaurant Association survey, an ad asking voters to oppose a mandate to increase tipped worker pay suggests a majority of tipped employees oppose the reforms outlined in the ballot question.
A pricey fight over whether to increase what employers must pay tipped workers is well underway in Massachusetts as a national group leading the campaign and business-backed opponents spar over the possible impacts of the ballot question.
The restaurant-funded Committee to Protect Tips, which is urging voters to oppose Question 5, rolled out a 30-second advertisement Thursday depicting servers who allege that wait staff "will earn less, not more" if voters approve the measure.
Opposition campaign officials said their new ad will appear on broadcast, cable and streaming services, part of a seven-figure purchase through September.
Chris Keohan, a spokesperson for the campaign, said the question's backers "did virtually no outreach to the people this question would impact the most...tipped employees."
"Tipped employees overwhelmingly oppose this ballot question, and we will continue to share their stories so that voters aren’t fooled by our opponents' deceitful tactics," Keohan said.
But the leader of One Fair Wage, the national group leading the ballot question charge, said worker earnings are higher, not lower, in several other states that already require businesses to pay higher wages with tips on top.
"The idea that tips are going to go away is a complete falsehood perpetrated by the National Restaurant Association," Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of UC Berkeley's Food Labor Research Center, said in an interview.
Under state law, employers can pay a minimum of $6.75 to workers who earn tips as long as the gratuities bring combined earnings up to at least $15 per hour. If an employee does not make that much, their employer must cover the difference.
The ballot question would instead require businesses to pay all tipped employees the full statewide minimum wage, and those workers could continue to earn gratuities in addition to their base pay. Under the proposal, employers could also choose to pool tips and distribute them between workers, including those like back-of-house staff who do not regularly receive gratuities.
Citing a Mass. Restaurant Association survey, the new opposition ad suggests that a majority of tipped employees oppose the reforms outlined in the ballot question.
One Fair Wage has been leading the campaign in Massachusetts -- and similar efforts elsewhere -- with the backing of some local organizations, workers, business owners and politicians. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley joined a fundraising event with supporters on Wednesday.
Jayaraman said the national group got involved at the request of Massachusetts employees, who reached out and sought help building a campaign.
Supporters have launched digital ads, according to Jayaraman, and are also eyeing their own seven-figure television ad buy in the near future.
Several hundred restaurants in Massachusetts already pay a full $15 per hour and allow workers to collect additional tips, Jayaraman said.
"Tipping has not changed in those restaurants. Frankly, people don't care. People don't know and don't care," she said. "The most common response we got when we were collecting signatures for this petition was, 'Oh my God, I had no idea they were getting $6.75.'"
Neither side of the issue has submitted detailed campaign finance information for 2024. In 2023, the committee working in favor of the question reported about $673,000 in in-kind contributions, most of it from One Fair Wage to cover signature-gathering, but no substantial direct contributions or expenses.
The opposition campaign, which did not form a fundraising committee until this year, has not submitted any data yet, but it did reveal its top five donors in the new ad: the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (which spent months fighting the proposal through legal challenges), the Apple American Group that appears to operate hundreds of Applebee's franchises, the Hampshire House Corp., Davio's CEO Steve DeFillippo, and local Mexican food chain Anna's Taqueria LLC.
Jayaraman told the News Service that One Fair Wage is the largest donor to the campaign in support of the question, and that most of the remaining money comes from "small-dollar donors all over the state of Massachusetts."
The public should get a clearer look at which interests are bankrolling both sides of the campaigns -- and the four other ballot questions -- by the end of the week. All ballot question campaigns must file their first political finance reports with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance by the end of the day Friday.
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