GOP Restart Wage Debate With Talk Of Tips
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP/WCCO) --House Republicans reignited a debate over the minimum wage Monday with a move to exempt some servers, bartenders and other tipped workers from future hikes — a likely non-starter for the Democrats in control of the Senate and governor's office.
Restaurant owners, servers and union officials alike turned out in force to rehash some familiar arguments from last year's law that bumped the state's minimum wage up to $9.50 hourly by 2016. Now, Republican Rep. Pat Garofalo has a bill that would allow employers to pay tipped staff $8 hourly if tips bring their pay above $12 an hour.
Keith Olson, the owner of Keith's Kettle in Clearwater, says last year's $1 an hour wage hike cost him $27,000.
"The margins aren't what you think they are," he said. "Everybody thinks you're getting getting rich ... that's not true. When August 1 comes around and it goes up another dollar, frankly I don't know what I'm going to do."
Opponents derided the proposal as a "tip penalty" that would hurt workers' livelihoods. Restaurant owners and hospitality trade groups called it a commonsense fix — Minnesota is one of few states that doesn't make some wage exemptions for tipped workers — that would give them a reprieve from rising labor costs.
"Our hands are tied. The only thing we can do is raise prices," said Brian Turtle, owner of Turtle's Bar and Grill in Shakopee.
A House committee was expected to vote on Garofalo's bill Monday evening.
The idea of factoring tips into wages has been a hot potato in Minnesota politics for years. Servers heaped scorn on then Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer when he proposed the idea in 2010.
A year after enacting the first minimum wage hike in a decade, the proposal faces dim prospects of becoming law with Democrats still in control of the state Senate. Senate Majority Leader tom Bakk said Monday his chamber is unlikely to take it up.
That gives the parade of waiters, waitresses and union representatives who objected to Garofalo's bill a strong ally. Along with some House DFL lawmakers, they portrayed the proposal as an attack on last year's much-needed wage boost.
"This bill is an attack on the dignity of working people, and you have a chance to stand with workers or to hurt them" Cliff Martin of Take Action Minnesota said.
Dan McElroy of HospitalityMN says food service is moving away from tableside service to iPad ordering, and minimum wage hikes could cost Minnesota 40,000 jobs.
"I hope that doesn't happen," McElroy said. "But we increase the likelihood of that happening if we don't recognize that tips are wages."
With her newborn son in her arms, Colleen Somerville Leeman told lawmakers that she already has to share her tips with other staff at her cafe in northeastern Minneapolis.
"Every cent that I make counts. Losing out on that because of the minimum wage would be very difficult for my family," she said.
Garofalo stressed that employees who make less than $12 hourly after tips would still get the prevailing minimum wage. Currently at $8 an hour, Minnesota's floor wage for most workers is set to increase to $9 in August and again to $9.50 in August 2016.
Both sides presented conflicting research and surveys on servers and bartenders' take home pay after tips to make their case. Tim Mahoney, owner of the Loon Cafe in Minneapolis, read an employee's recent pay stub showing she made more than $28 an hour after tips.
Union representatives said cases like Mahoney's employee are the exception, not the norm.
"Tips are meant to show appreciation for good service, not as an excuse for employers to pay their employees less," said Steve Hunter, secretary and treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.
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