Voters in Arizona and Massachusetts are set to decide whether employers should be able to continue to pay tipped workers such as servers and bartenders a lower minimum wage than non-tipped workers.

Mel Nichols, a 37-year-old bartender in Phoenix, Arizona, takes home anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour with tips included. But the uncertainty of how much she’s going to make on a daily basis is a constant source of stress.

“For every good day, there’s three bad days,” said Nichols, who has been in the service industry since she was a teenager. “You have no security when it comes to knowing how much you’re going to make.”

The amount tipped workers make varies by state. Fourteen states pay the federal minimum, or just above $2 an hour for tipped workers and $7 an hour for non-tipped workers.

  • @chonglibloodsport
    1•2 hours ago

    The prices are going up now because all of the following are getting more expensive:

    • ingredients
    • energy
    • rent
    • delivery fees (for delivery of ingredients to the restaurant)
    • laundry
    • maintenance

    Raising the wages of staff is another expense to add on. To the list.

    Restaurants are not a lucrative business. Most barely break even or lose money. They can’t afford to pay staff more without raising prices.