In widely celebrated moves, Michigan and the District of Columbia recently passed minimum wage hikes for tipped workers. However, there's growing opposition from industry representatives and tipped workers themselves, most of whom depend on gratuities for their take-home pay. As a result, legislators are already eyeing rollbacks on the law, and rightly so.
According to Alicia Renee Farris, Michigan campaign chair of One Fair Wage advocacy group, the tipped minimum wage hike in Michigan does not impact tipping in any major way. Instead, workers retain their right to tips while receiving raises, and business owners experience little discomfort.
But, despite support for tipped minimum wage hikes from outside labor groups flush with activists, business communities — backed up by servers and bartenders — oppose them.
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