Reject the Plan to Phase Out the Tipped Wage in Massachusetts
Vote No on Question 5 on or before Election Day
Question 5 seeks to phase out the Massachusetts tipped wage for servers, which would severely impact the hospitality industry. However, the plan goes beyond eliminating the tipped wage and includes a tip pooling provision that 88% of restaurant workers oppose.
Question 5 would escalate tipped wage annually until it reaches the state minimum wage:
- 64% by 1/1/25
- To 73% by 1/1/26
- To 82% by 1/1/27
- To 91% by 1/1/28
- 100% by 1/1/29
According to A recent survey, 91% of servers polled prefer the current tipping system and do not support the changes under Question 5. A similar proposal in Washington, D.C. resulted in the loss of 3,700 full-service restaurant jobs. Not only did the changes in Washington, D.C. harm hospitality workers, but consumers experienced higher prices as restaurants were forced to implement service fees to combat rising expenses.
NFIB consistently resisted eliminating the tipped wage in bills before the Massachusetts Legislature. Now we oppose the effort by out-of-state groups to include this job-killing question on the 2024 ballot.
Make no mistake: Question 5 will impact more than just restaurants. Hotels, nail salons, barbershops, and virtually every industry with tipped employees will feel the effects of this devastating proposal.
NFIB IN THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDIA
Massachusetts tipping point: Restaurant workers from Boston, elsewhere sound off on Question 5
Boston Herald, 10/17/2024
Healey opposes ballot questions on tipped wage increase, MCAS grad requirement
GBH (wgbh.org), 10/16/2024
Question 5: Will it boost restaurant worker pay, or backfire? (bostonglobe.com)
Boston Globe, 10/01/2024
WHAT NFIB MEMBERS ARE SAYING
“We are a third-generation business, we have been in business for fifty years. We all know this will affect the owners, causing employees to be laid off, higher prices meaning less customers, etc., but it is more about the servers and the bartenders. Servers and bartenders have depended on their tips to pay for their college educations, raise their families, pay their rent, put extra money in their pockets. The tipping situation as it stands now is what has allowed all of this. If Question 5 passes this will change this entire scenario. Not one of our employees wants any part of this. If we don’t listen to the people this will affect the most, why ask the question? It is a bad deal for servers, bartenders, managers, owners; everyone in the hospitality industry.”
– Mary Costello