COLUMBUS, Ohio — A proposal to raise the minimum wage in Ohio to $15 an hour is not sitting well with some workers in the restaurant industry.
Bartenders, servers and restaurant owners gathered on Tuesday to send a unified message: Don't mess with the current tipping system.
"Keep it the way it is. Ninety-three percent of people who are in the business are saying that empathetically," said John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance.
Raise the Wage Ohio is collecting signatures to put a proposed constitutional amendment on this year’s ballot that would raise the minimum wage to $12.75 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2025, and then it would go up to $15 an hour starting on Jan. 1, 2026. It would also get rid of Ohio’s tipped wage.
Barker said most of the 1,000 tipped workers surveyed fear the $15 minimum wage would mean fewer tips and ultimately less income.
"Right now in the state of Ohio, just based on a brand new survey that we're announcing today, servers are averaging $27 an hour in what they get paid by their restaurant or their bar. Plus, they get to keep their tips," Barker said.
Restaurant owners say if the ballot issue passes in November, it will hurt an industry that is still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Most of the independent restaurants that I work with, and I do travel around telling independence, get involved and know what's happening and know that the 5% margin that you have for profit is going to be gone because it's going to go toward payroll from an outside group that wants to change a system that people in Ohio and serve in Ohio are perfectly happy with," said Laurie Torres, owner of Mallorca.
To get the proposal on the ballot, Raise the Wage Ohio has to submit enough signatures by July 3.