Here's Why Restaurant Workers Want to Keep The Minimum Wage Low

INJO$15 minimum wage? Not so fast, say restaurant workers.

This past November, voters in Maine raised the minimum wage to $9 an hour, which will increase to $12 an hour in 2020. This referendum also put the end to the “tip credit” system which allowed restaurant employers to pay their employees below the minimum wage because their tips made up for it.

Restaurant workers were furious with this decision, and owners said that it drove up labor costs and killed off tips for servers. Servers argued they saw a direct change in the amount of tips they took home when customers knew they were making more money — and it was painful for them.

After months of owners and servers attending public hearings fighting for the “tip credit” system, the Maine House passed a bill to restore the system. The bill will go through one more vote before it's sent to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

One bartender in Maine, Sue Vallenza, told The Washington Post that she began lobbying the decision immediately. Servers like her not only worry about their tips, but higher prices and hours being cut. She told the Post: “I don’t need to be ‘saved,’ and I’ll be damned if small groups of uninformed people are voting on my livelihood. You can’t cut someone off at the knees like that.”

Read the full story on IJR.com

Photo: Getty Images


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