Some of the lowest paid but most visible employees in the country have had enough, they say, and will continue their fight for a fair wage regardless of Beacon Hill’s will to help this year.
“The reality is that we’ve gotten more co-sponsers during this legislative session than we have in the last few sessions combined,” Yamila Ruiz, executive director of One Fair Wage, said from the steps of the State House. “We look forward to passing it early next session.”
Of concern is a pre-pandemic push to change an antiquated way of doing business, according to Ruiz: the practice of tipping servers.
In Massachusetts, and in many parts of the country, tipped employees are exempt from the regular minimum wage and are paid a much lower rate. The Bay State’s minimum tipped wage is $6.15 per hour, with an employee required to receive at least $14.25, the standard state minimum, in combined tips and wages.
A bill currently lodged in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, S.1213, or An Act requiring one fair wage, would amend the state’s law to require all employees to be paid at least the minimum wage, regardless of tipped status. The bill most likely will not pass this year, Ruiz acknowledged.
Employees like Marie Billiel told the small crowd gathered at the State House that without a change in the law that the disparity in wages will continue to leave servers with little options when it comes to working in abhorrent conditions.
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