I have not worked in the restaurant industry and I don't have any close friends working within it, but I do volunteer work with an organization focused on immigration rights and empowerment and this has led me to generally be more aware of wage theft. This has been one of my main motivations for voting "yes" on Question 5. I don't find myself disagreeing much with Worcester Sucks, so I thought it would be productive to share some notes :)
Some stats and quotes from a recent UMass study on this policy at the center of Question 5:
"Despite accounting for only 5.6% of employment in Massachusetts in 2023, the Restaurant and Hotel industry had...the highest number of complaints regarding tips, minimum wage, and non-payment of wages..."
"Tipped workers are...disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of color, making up 43% of tipped workers. This compares to 29% among Massachusetts workers overall." (The study does not include numbers on immigrant representation -- I'd assume there is an overrepresentation, but I could be wrong!)
I highly recommend skimming through it, or at least checking out the "key findings" section of the study, shown in the screenshot here:
I think it's unfortunate that some people will vote "no" for fear that they will be making less money. I don't blame anyone for doing that, I understand that have to advocate for yourself, but I feel like it disregards those who aren't making as much in these jobs and plays into the Restaurant Association's hand. In a way, it reminds me a lot of the messaging we saw in 2022 when Lyft/Uber was pitting drivers against each other regarding the original worker benefits question.
There's a really good quote on this divide from the Boston.com article that was linked in the newsletter:
"Mostly the industry is full of poor and working class people. The beauty of working in this industry is that your income is variable, so it allows you to think you have an opportunity to not be poor if you work hard enough. Your management has been telling you a lie that if you work hard enough, you’ll make more money, even though you don’t control the cost of food, the marketing, your hours. This idea that you have total control over how much money you make is a myth sold to us by ownership."
Consumers don't mind paying tips but a job well done certainly has value to compensation. I think this that vote no and work in service are gullible and only hurt themselves from fear by business owners.
I'm interested in seeing data on how restaurant workers in other cities or states that have adopted similar measures to Q5 are faring. It's a bummer that these measures often come with other gotchas like tip pooling and taking a cut for BOH.
While I appreciate your take on the 5 ballot questions, it's WRONG,WRONG,WRONG to suggest not voting for Kamala, Warren or McGovern.! Voting matters! If enough folks ditch, then those opponents COULD win! And appearance matter too. They will all be watching the votes totals!
I have not worked in the restaurant industry and I don't have any close friends working within it, but I do volunteer work with an organization focused on immigration rights and empowerment and this has led me to generally be more aware of wage theft. This has been one of my main motivations for voting "yes" on Question 5. I don't find myself disagreeing much with Worcester Sucks, so I thought it would be productive to share some notes :)
Some stats and quotes from a recent UMass study on this policy at the center of Question 5:
https://peri.umass.edu/?view=article&id=1843:potential-impacts-of-a-full-minimum-wage-for-tipped-workers-in-massachusetts
"Despite accounting for only 5.6% of employment in Massachusetts in 2023, the Restaurant and Hotel industry had...the highest number of complaints regarding tips, minimum wage, and non-payment of wages..."
"Tipped workers are...disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of color, making up 43% of tipped workers. This compares to 29% among Massachusetts workers overall." (The study does not include numbers on immigrant representation -- I'd assume there is an overrepresentation, but I could be wrong!)
I highly recommend skimming through it, or at least checking out the "key findings" section of the study, shown in the screenshot here:
https://x.com/BenForWard3/status/1846612330295238711/photo/2
I think it's unfortunate that some people will vote "no" for fear that they will be making less money. I don't blame anyone for doing that, I understand that have to advocate for yourself, but I feel like it disregards those who aren't making as much in these jobs and plays into the Restaurant Association's hand. In a way, it reminds me a lot of the messaging we saw in 2022 when Lyft/Uber was pitting drivers against each other regarding the original worker benefits question.
There's a really good quote on this divide from the Boston.com article that was linked in the newsletter:
"Mostly the industry is full of poor and working class people. The beauty of working in this industry is that your income is variable, so it allows you to think you have an opportunity to not be poor if you work hard enough. Your management has been telling you a lie that if you work hard enough, you’ll make more money, even though you don’t control the cost of food, the marketing, your hours. This idea that you have total control over how much money you make is a myth sold to us by ownership."
Exactly wage thief is through the roof!
Weird that tips for good service lost you?
Consumers don't mind paying tips but a job well done certainly has value to compensation. I think this that vote no and work in service are gullible and only hurt themselves from fear by business owners.
I'm interested in seeing data on how restaurant workers in other cities or states that have adopted similar measures to Q5 are faring. It's a bummer that these measures often come with other gotchas like tip pooling and taking a cut for BOH.
While I appreciate your take on the 5 ballot questions, it's WRONG,WRONG,WRONG to suggest not voting for Kamala, Warren or McGovern.! Voting matters! If enough folks ditch, then those opponents COULD win! And appearance matter too. They will all be watching the votes totals!
Oh, I guess your vote does matter, even here.
https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/11/06/massachusetts-election-results-trends-trump-hispanic-voters-bristol-county
If I lived in a swing state, my calculus would be different. In MA, Trump is losing by like 10 points minimum.