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…
August 26, 2022

83 Percent of Surveyed Economists Oppose FAST Recovery Act

This week, the Employment Policies Institute released a survey of labor economists on the potential impacts of California’s Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (AB 257). Conducted by Dr. Lloyd Corder of CorCom, Inc., Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, the online survey was completed by…
California August 17, 2022

FAST Recovery Act “Research” Conducted By Union Organizers

Email records recently acquired by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) show that researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have been seemingly more interested in partnering with labor activists than doing objective research. UCLA’s Labor Center boasts about producing quality research that “lifts industry standards.” In…
August 12, 2022

Study: FAST Recovery Act Unfairly Targets CA’s Fast-Food Industry

Last week, the Employment Policies Institute released a report analyzing nearly a decade of California Department of Industrial Relations data on alleged labor law violations. The report’s findings show California’s fast-food restaurant industry accounts for far fewer wage claims than other industries. This directly refutes headlines based on an unscientific…