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.

  • funkless_eck
    39·
    1 month ago

    Just abolish tipping. Everyone hates it except the restaurant owner. Why are we pandering to the owners when the customers and the staff vastly outnumber them?

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      1 month ago

      Actually a lot of servers and bartenders get really annoyed by the prospect of abolishing tipping. They can make really good money from tips.

      I agree it’s a terrible system but you get a lot of push-back from workers if you try to change it.

      • funkless_eck
        8·
        1 month ago

        understandable in some ways, but also, I worked a bar in the uk for decent pay (5 star boutique hotel) so it can happen

    • iopq@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 month ago

      I’m fine with this, I’ve been in countries where there’s no tipping and their service is just as good