November 4, 2022

Study: Economists Say $15 Tipped Wage Will Cost 800K Jobs, $2.2B Earnings

A new study released by the Employment Policies Institute finds state-level $15 tipped minimum wages will cost jobs and earnings for restaurant employees. In next week’s elections, voters in several states will be tasked with choosing whether or not to enact similar wage hikes for tipped employees. The study, conducted…
October 28, 2022

Minimum Wage Hikes Kill Yet Another Restaurant in 2022

The latest casualty of skyrocketing wage mandates is Deva Cafe in Modesto, CA. The popular neighborhood restaurant has been open for three decades, and owner Heather Elkins has announced it will be closing its doors permanently due to rising inflation and the upcoming minimum wage hike. She tried raising…
Michigan October 21, 2022

Dem Governor Spooked by Michigan Minimum Wage Hike

This week, Michigan’s liberal governor Gretchen Whitmer is urging caution on the recent court order to reinstate a $12 wage floor scheduled for February. The new rate will spikes the current tipped minimum wage by more than 200% in just a few months. Earlier this year, a Michigan Court…
District of Columbia October 14, 2022

DC Anti-Tip Credit Activists Resurrect Bogus #TipsOnTop Slogan

One Fair Wage, the union-funded activist group responsible for a $25 million campaign to end tip credits nationwide, has long touted a minimum wage with “tips on top” platform. It sounds appealing, but is not based in reality. Initiative 82 on the ballot in November would eliminate the city’s…
October 7, 2022

Is the minimum wage hike trade-off “worth it”?

In an interview promoting his new book on America’s economic future this week, NYU Stern Business School professor Scott Galloway presented the core trade-off of raising minimum wages: mandated wages climb higher, but may cause businesses to close or employees to lose their jobs as a result. He also…
September 30, 2022

Up, Up, and Away: Inflation Takes Minimum Wages Soaring to New Heights

It’s that time of year again – states and cities across the country are announcing higher-than-ever minimum and tipped wages before they go into effect in 2023. Many states are still on legislated schedules to reach a $15 minimum wage (or higher). One trend more troubling is the rapid rate…
September 23, 2022

Why Tips (and More) Drop When Tipped Minimum Wages Increase

A recent commentary on Portland, ME’s tip credit elimination ballot measure argues tipped restaurant employees don’t need to worry about losing their tips when the tipped minimum wage is forced up to $18 per hour. Yet the very restaurant employees organizing against Portland’s Question D say they earn far more…
September 16, 2022

Restaurant Employees Continue to Oppose Measures to Scrap Tip Credits

Despite a $25 million campaign dedicated to removing tip credits across the country by pro-union group One Fair Wage, counter-campaigns to save tip credits are popping up too – and led by tipped restaurant employees themselves. This year, tipped restaurant employees are mobilizing in…
September 9, 2022

Restaurant Workers Launch Fight against Portland Anti-Tip Credit Measure

Voters in Portland, Maine voters will decide Question D in the November general election, which proposes to eliminate the city’s tip credit. Tip credits serve as the backbone of the current tipping system for many front-of-house restaurant employees such as servers and bartenders. Tipped employees themselves are drawing attention to…
September 2, 2022

Tips Are Under Attack, But Servers Aren’t Asking For It

Two ballot measures this fall seek to eliminate tip credits in Washington, DC and Portland, ME. The measures are part of a larger, nationwide campaign by Big Labor advocates such as the Restaurant Opportunities Center’s (ROC) sister nonprofit One Fair Wage. While union activists argue eliminating tip credits will raise…