By John L. Micek
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey left little doubt Wednesday on how she feels about a fall ballot question that would boost the minimum wage for tipped workers.
“I actually oppose it,” Healey said during a live appearance on GBH News' “Boston Public Radio” program as she was quizzed on her stands on all five questions on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Healey, who said she “waitressed, on and off, from the time I was 13 to 24,” told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagen that she “got a lot of tips” during that time.
“I think I did a pretty good job,” she said. “... I‘d work in a diner in the morning. I’d work at a nicer place in the evenings.”
“I was a cocktail waitress for many years at the Hampton Beach Casino," in her native New Hampshire, the Democratic governor said.
A “yes” vote on the ballot question would authorize gradually increasing the wage for tipped workers (now $6.75 an hour) until it meets the state’s $15-an-hour minimum wage by 2029. It would still permit tipping in addition to the minimum wage.
If you’ve ever waited on tables, you know what a boost tips can be for the take-home for the average restaurant worker.
While the ballot question would still permit tipping, restaurants would be allowed to pool and share those tips with cooks and other back-of-the-house staff who normally do not interact with customers, MassLive previously reported.
Healey told the station she believes that while the wage hike’s backers, the advocacy group One Fair Wage, is “well-intentioned,” boosting the wage would hurt restaurant owners.
“I think it‘s important to vote ’no' on this [question] because I think you run the risk of closing restaurants and putting these workers out of work,“ she said. ” ... Because the restaurant owners I speak to are not going to be able to afford this. And they’re going to end up laying off people in some instances. Some have told me they’re just going to shut down.”
One Fair Wage has argued that it’s past time to end “poverty wages for service workers.”
An industry-backed group called The Committee to Protect Tips, meanwhile, has argued that the campaign doesn’t represent the opinions of Bay State restaurant workers.
Based on recent polling, public opinion on the ballot question is all over the map.
Sixty-one percent of respondents to a UMass Amherst/WCVB-TV poll released earlier this week indicated they were “yes” votes on the ballot question.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents to that poll said they planned to vote against the ballot question, while 13% were undecided.
More than 51% of respondents to a similar Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll released earlier this month said they planned to vote against the ballot question.
Healey already had established her opposition to a ballot question that would scrap the MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement.
The Arlington Democrat took no position Wednesday on a ballot question that would allow state Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit her former colleagues in the state Legislature.
“I’ll leave that to the voters,” Healey said.
Healey said she’s “still reviewing” a ballot question that would allow ride-share drivers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining, and another that would provide for the limited legalization of certain natural psychedelics.
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