But in Massachusetts, one thing has stayed exactly the same: the tipped minimum wage.
Today, just as in those pre-Y2K days, tipped workers make only $2.63 per hour, with the rest of their pay coming from tips. On days when tips don’t bring them to the $8.00 minimum wage, employers are supposed to make the difference, but this law is difficult to enforce and often ignored.
Raise Up Massachusetts is working to give this group of workers a long-overdue raise. Our ballot initiative proposes setting the tipped minimum wage at 60% of the minimum wage, and just as with the overall minimum wage, having yearly automatic increases. But right now, the corporate lobby is swarming Beacon Hill and trying to persuade legislators into keeping the tipped minimum wage down. We need your help to stop them.
Click here to call your legislator and let them know you want an increase in the tipped minimum wage.
Consider the following fact: Over the past 45 years, the value of the tipped minimum wage has declined by 58%, leaving tipped workers scrambling to make ends meet. In fact, at the national level, the poverty rate among tipped workers is more than double that of all workers.
And in case you were thinking that tipped workers are high schoolers or college students home for the summer, consider that 88% of tipped workers are adults and 73% of tipped workers are women. That means that it is adult working women whose ability to support themselves and their families are most affected by the tipped minimum wage rate.
Tipped workers deserve a raise. Click here to call your legislator and make sure they hear our message.
PS. Once you've made a call, be sure to let us know how it went! Click here to report the outcome of your call.
MASSUNITING -- united in the fight for good jobs, corporate accountability and stronger communities.
150 Mt Vernon St, Dorchester, MA 02125
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