After having having an earlier plebiscite overturned by the DC City Council, the lower tipped wage has been repealed in yesterday's elections.
Good.
This time, the DC council has promised to resist the push-back from from the restaurant lobby.
The sub minimum wage for tipped workers is an abomination:
D.C. voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative Tuesday to raise the minimum wage for District workers who receive tips, after months of debate about its effects on the city’s restaurants and their employees.
Initiative 82 is a repeat of a 2018 referendum to eliminate the city’s “tipped minimum” wage. The measure will increase minimum pay for servers and other tipped workers from $5.35 per hour to $16.10 per hour by 2027, giving them the same pay floor as non-tipped workers. Voters approved the measure in 2018, but it was repealed by the D.C. Council.
On Tuesday, voters reiterated their support for the change. With most votes counted, the “yes” vote on the initiative had a commanding lead, according to tallies from the D.C. Board of Elections, and the Associated Press called the contest in favor of the measure.
The measure roiled the District this election season as restaurateurs who favor the current system squared off with initiative proponents who claim food businesses do not pay their workers fairly. Servers and bartenders were divided on the question, with some arguing for the security of a higher wage and others fearing less take-home pay in an environment where tipping might cease to be the norm.
The sub-minimum wage is why tipped workers are among routinely cheated by their employers through wage theft.
Putting an end to this is a good thing.
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