October 10, 2024 • 39 mins
Massachusetts Ballot Question 5 proposes giving tipped workers the state minimum wage. If passed, Question 5 would do away with the tipped minimum wage of $6.25 and replace it with the state minimum wage by gradually increasing the minimum hourly wage that an employer must pay to a tipped worker over five years, reaching 100% of the state minimum wage by 2029. Steve Clark, the President, and CEO of the MA Restaurant Association, who represents the “No” campaign, joined Dan to discuss.
*The “Yes” campaign has not responded to our request to join*
*The “Yes” campaign has not responded to our request to join*
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray w BZ Costs Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All Right, So, as we rolled towards the election on
November fifth, not only the presidential election, but the state
elections and maybe some local elections, we are going to
periodically be looking at some of the ballot questions. We
looked at one of the ballot questions that deal with
the MCAST requirements, graduation requirement with Matt Hills on Tuesday night,
(00:30):
Tuesday evening during the nine o'clock hour. Matt is the
vice chair of the Massachusetts Secondary and Elementary Education Department. Tonight,
we're going to take a look at another ballot question.
This is ballid question five, and this is one that
(00:52):
is quite confusing, and to clarify some of that confusion,
we have invited Steve Clark, the President and CEO of
the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, to join us. I'll also tell
you that we tried to get a representative of another
group that is on the opposite side of this issue,
which seems to be a California based group. So first
(01:15):
of all, Steve, welcome to you. Thank you for joining
us tonight on Night Side. Thank you. How are you tonight? Dan?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you very much for having me. How are we doing?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We're doing fine. Now can you give me my understanding?
Is that the group that is that is in favor
of this question, and I don't expect you know you
to necessarily to us what they're saying, as you're opposed
to it. Are they a local group or a group
from out of state? And is there we we had
(01:44):
a tough time trying to find anyone to join us,
join you tonight to discuss the topic here in Massachusetts.
What's what's the story there?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So this is an organization that came out of California.
They have filed this question in massachuf this legislative league
for the last five legislative sessions, for the last ten years.
And they've also filed this similar type of legislation in
sixteen states across the country this year, all of which
have not adopted this provision. So after not having legislative success,
(02:17):
they paid about a million dollars to get on the
ballot for this year.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And here we are. We are.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We have balid Question five, which will fundamentally change the
way full service restaurants operate. They want to change the
way service and bartenders get paid. And we are we're
vehemently opposed.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay, we're gon we're gonna We're gonna break it down
for sure. But I just wanted to emphasize to my
audience that we have reached out. My producer, Marita aka
Lady Lightning, she gets to people pretty pretty well. She
has a note here. The Yes campaign has not responded
to our request, our request to join the conversation tonight,
(02:56):
So let's let's try to Whenever we deal with numbers,
I found out on on radio it's very difficult to
deal with numbers. So let's take the situation now in Massachusetts.
If you happen to be working as somebody who's on
a weight staff, meaning I assume you're somebody who's interacting,
(03:17):
and if my definition is wrong or if the definition
needs to be increased or lied more limited, it's the
waiter waitress that comes up, approaches you at the table
and says, good evening, welcome to such and such. You
know I'm going to be a wait person tonight. That's
what we're Those are the waiters and bartenders. I assume also.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
People who exactly the people at the front of the
house of the restaurants that are providing the great service
and the great hospitality that we've come to expect in
restaurants across Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Okay, so those folks, their minimum wage is six dollars
and twenty five cents. I assume there's nothing that would
stop a business owner from paying a waiter or a waitress,
or a bartender who does a particularly good job, maybe
even some particularly bartenders that that people go to the
(04:07):
bar to interact with the bartender. They can get more
money if the if the owner wants to pay the
more money. Correct But the minimum is six twenty five, So.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
A couple of corrections, so it's actually six seventy five
and went up about.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
A year ago.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So six seventy five is the base wage, and that
assumes that at least eight dollars and twenty five cents
will be made in tips. But the minimum wage is
actually fifteen. So when a server comes into the bar
restaurant and checks in, whether they serve one guest or
one hundred guests, they're guaranteed fifteen dollars an hour through
(04:42):
some combination of the hourly wage and the tips. The
reality is far more than fifteen dollars. We can get
into that, but that's not what the law.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think what you're saying is that unless you work
in the restaurant which is overstaffed and and there's very
few people coming in the door, it's tough not to
make fifteen dollars an hour as as a waiter or
a waitress or a bartender. I think that's what you're applying,
am I.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Correct, Absolutely, it's tough not to make twenty two dollars
an hour. But yes, the law is you are required
fifteen dollars per hour regardless of when you work. So, yes,
there is a a so called tip wage, and that
just merely allows the restaurant owner to employ more people
to provide the full service that comes along in a
(05:31):
full service restaurant.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So let's assume let's assume some waiter or waitress gets
let's say they work a four hour ship shift. We'll
keep it simple, and let's assume that they get sixty
bucks in tips. Okay, roughly, we'll make it easy. So
they got fifteen dollars in tips. They will also be
(05:54):
paid the six dollars and seventy five cents.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or exactly, so they're making twenty one seventy five an hour.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay, So okay, Now, what happens if the waiter or
waitress is somehow disingenuous and puts some of the tips
in one pocket and some of the tips in the other.
How does a restaurant own a control? You know, I'm
not saying any waitress or waitress that I have ever
met would do such a thing, but as a hypersonic question,
(06:21):
of course, it's a hypothetical question. How does the owner
of the restaurant, who could only have his his or
her eyes in so many places at any given time,
how do they know that that?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So the vast majority of restaurants have are our seventy
eighty ninety percent credit card, so it's kind of hard
to hide the cash tips the way people used to
hide them in the in the seventies and eighties and
even the nineties. You know, most transactions are happening on
a credit card, so you're only really seeing ten to
fifteen percent of all transactions in a given shift our cash.
(06:58):
And so it's actually much easy here to track the
hours worked and the tips that have come in than
it was, you know, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So is that done. I've never worked as a waiter,
never worked as a waiter, a waitress never worked as
a waitstaff person. Let's assume that at this day and age,
my wife and I go out to dinners one hundred dollars.
I'll put twenty percent of the on the credit card.
So does the house then understand? Okay, this twenty dollars
is going to be credited to the waiter a waitress
(07:29):
that serves that table.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Oh yeah, absolutely. And if there's severe penalties, the severe
penalties both in not paying a serve of the full
minimum wage. We have triple damages in Massachusetts. So that's
a serious wage violation, a right exactly. And then also
the tips. There's a very strict lawge Massachusetts of who
can share in tips. The tips can only go to
(07:53):
employee that's provided a direct service to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, that's going to get into this this issue as well. Okay,
so I think Steve set the stage. Uh, if there
are people who are wait staff people and want to
chime in, you would be most affected by this piece
of legislation. I'm sure there are some arguments on the
other side. We'll try to get to those as well.
Six one seven, two four ten thirty six one seven nine,
(08:18):
ten thirty My name is Dan Ray. This is night Side.
Let's get back at our conversation right after this very
quick break.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the window world
to night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
My guess it's Steve Clark, President and CEO of the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association. So Steve, give you a chance now
since we've kind of laid out the way it all works.
Right now, what is the problem with this ballot question?
You guys are opposed to it. I believe that there's
a pretty good amount of waiters and waitresses, weight staff
(08:55):
people also who are opposed to this. What what is
it going to do that it's going to disrupt circumstances,
and why is it a bad idea?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
So the very first thing the mass Restaurant Association did
was poll servers, the very servers and bar centers that
were going to be impacted by this question, and we
actually put the language of the ballot before them and
said what do you think about this? And then overwhelming
majority came back and said, we don't want this. This
is going to impact my earnings. Ninety percent of the
respondents came back and said this is a bad idea.
(09:30):
Eighty eight percent think that they have to share their
tips with other employees that don't provide direct service, they're
going to make less money. And the proponents never asked
any of the servers in Massachusetts if they wanted this.
A very similar bill was just passed in Washington, DC,
and it's been a disaster for the restaurant industry down there.
Ten percent of the full service jobs are gone in
(09:52):
less than a year. Ninety six percent of restaurants have
raised prices. And what we're really seeing is the implementation
of service charges. I'm not lying. Someone just texted me
a bill from Washington, DC and it says twenty percent
service charge. You don't need to tip. Well, the service
charge belongs to the restaurant owner to dictate where that
(10:13):
gets spent. So that's a loss of income for the servers.
So we've had one thousand servers go to our website
and sign up and join our petition and join our
campaign and more importantly, and I think what shows the
true nature of this campaign is almost one hundred servers
and bartenders have contributed financially to the null on five campaign.
(10:34):
They've reached into their hard earned dollars and contributed five
to ten fifteen dollars. The proponents of this question have
not one server or bartender from Massachusetts that has even
contributed to this campaign at all. So I think it
speaks pretty clear that the service and bartenders don't want
it because they're going to see a direct loss in
tips or in jobs.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So the impact on the current servers under the current circumstances,
economic circumstances. Uh, if if they make one hundred dollars
in tip some night by waiting on customers, waiting tables,
serving tables, that money is credited to them, uh, they
(11:15):
they do not have to share that money with the
cooks or the bottle washers or any of the back
of the house people.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Right exactly, exactly, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Uh so so what is this California group attempting to
do here? Again, we had a tough time tracking any
of them down, any any representative, and my producer is
very good at getting people to join us. What what
is what is their goal here? Who are the if
(11:46):
if the waiters and waitresses aren't thrilled with this? And
I've seen some uh some television ads I'm not sure
if they're your ads or not, which have have shown
people who were you surfers who was saying they didn't
like it? What is the potential argument? Again, there's no
(12:08):
one on the other side to make the argument. What
is the potential argument that they are making two people
to get in Massachusetts to support this this.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Well, I don't usually want to tell the people that
have endorsed a yes, but the Democratic Socialists of Massachusetts
Boston Chapter have endorsed the yes on this question. Yeah,
so you know they they they're they're they're this organization.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
How about like the Young the Young Socialist League.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
You know, they're probably lining up next, they might endorse tomorrow.
It's it's really rooted in a in a desire to
pay everyone in the restaurant the same wage and regardless
of how hard you've worked, regardless of how how hard
(12:58):
you're going to work, regardless of your skill set. And
that's what makes the restaurant industry great. It's a it's
an opportunity to have unlimited earnings. You can go in
and providing credible service to a guest and making credible
earnings in limited hours. So they really want to get
away from tipping and they want to pay everybody one
wage their organization is called one Fair Wage. I don't
(13:22):
use that name very frequently, but it's really one flat wage.
They want to pay everybody the same.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, it's always interesting when you hear a group like that.
What do you mean by by fair fair to whom? Whatever?
I don't know. Look, if there are some people who
work in the service industry who are out there and
would like to chime in on whatever side of this question. Uh,
(13:48):
there was a poll that was done recently by my
friend Dave Paleologus of Suffolk University, and it was in
the Boston Globe a couple of days ago. And if
I recall, it's one of those questions, it's it's the
last questions question number five. And and you guys are
advocating for a no vote.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Obviously, we want to know. We want no changes to
the existing law nor the tip pulling law. That we
just want the We want a lot to stay the same.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Okay. So, but what this law would do is it
would mandate tip pooling.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Uh So it wouldn't. It wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It wouldn't mandate tip pooling. It would just it would
allow the restaurant owner to mandate tip pooling. So if
the restaurant owner decided they could now move the tips
however they seem fit, so a manager would never be
able to collect the tips. I think that's pretty clear
in the law. But the if they wanted to share
tips with the back of the house, with the host,
maybe with the social media manager, maybe with the accountants,
(14:49):
maybe with the person that cleans the restaurant at night,
there's no restrictions on where those tips can go. And
I think that's truly the server and bartender opposition is
they're harder and tips are now being disseminated as wages
to other employees throughout the restaurant enterprise.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Right, and what this would do also, I think it
will have an immediate impact that the minimum wage which
the servers are being paid above and beyond their tips,
would go to nine dollars and nine dollars and sixty
(15:28):
cents year one on January first, year two would bump
up to ten ninety five year three. January first, twenty
six would be twelve thirty eight. It would eventually get
up to fifteen dollars by January first of twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Right, So think about so Dan, think about a small
restaurant across Massachusetts, in any town, and just the labor
cost that's going to go up in year one. Now,
most full service restaurants, two thirds of the employees at
the restaurant are tipped employees. So it's the highest percentage
of staff that you have in your restaurant. If that
(16:06):
labor cost goes up from the six seventy five right
now to the nine thirty on January first, as almost
three dollars per tipped employee hour, So one employee working
forty hours a week, that's one hundred and twenty dollars
business costs. Multiply that out by every server in every week.
That's an insane increase in a for the restaurant industry
(16:28):
that operates on a three to five percent margin.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It's not sole that's going to that's going to increase
the costs that the restaurant will have to charge customers exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
So they have to make up that price somehow. They're
either going to increase the cost or they're going to
put a service charge on because there's only one way
to generate money in a restaurant, and that's the product
on the menu price for the product.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So you're you're convinced that well, the poll that it
just was alluding to you, you were no vote was prevailing,
but there was still forty percent of the people who
if I recall correctly, thirty nine percent that were saying yes.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Because it sounds good.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Everyone wants to take care of their server and their bartenders, Like, yeah,
of course, I think this helps servis and bartenders. But
then when they actually asked their bartender and their server,
they're like, wait a minute, this isn't going to help me.
And so when the proponents first filed this question earlier
this year, they were touting fifty eight percent support. So
their support has been crumbling in eroding, and the Boston
Globe pole showed that it was less than forty percent.
(17:36):
So people are learning, and I think when they hear
more from the services and bartenders, they hear from the
local restaurant owners, they hear from the coalition of mayors
that are on both sides of the aisle that have
come out and posed the house chair aways and means.
Aaron Michelwitz came out today.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I saw that by the way, that was that was
an interesting, you know, interesting that he would weigh in
on it. Of course, he represents the district. A part
of his district is the North End, which is repleat
with restaurants, great Italian restaurants. I should I should mention,
but yes, so he very well might be influenced by
by that constituency.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But still obviously he also he had there was there
was three servers that came and spoke and said that
they didn't want this. So yes, he has a he
has a vibrant restaurant district, but he also has a
lot of vibrant restaurant employees from there.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Have any of the state elected officials, the governor, either
of our senators are six constitutional offices, which of course
one of which would be the governor, of governor, lieutenant governor,
Attorney general, Secretary of state, auditor, state treasurer. Have any
of them come out with endorsements one way or the other.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
No, they've They've all remained neutral thus far, okay, and
which I think tells you, which I think speaks volumes
that you know, normally when they when you talk about
a minimum wage discussion, most of our elected officials come
on board and say, yes, a good idea. So I
think their silence speaks volumes that they don't believe this
(19:10):
is a good idea. And then to go one step further,
the hospitality union is opposed to this. Well, is neutral
on this question because they don't like the tip sharing
aspect of it. So it's not often that the hospitality
union and the business owners agree on the same thing.
Evidence of what's going on in the city recently, but
(19:31):
they are not in favor of this ballot question.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, if perhaps the two issues spends pet been split,
the one fair share group might have at least had
a hope of getting the first question, but certainly not
the tip sharing question. It's very interesting. Have they spent
this group you said, has spent a million dollars on
the ballot. Have they been spending a lot of advertising?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
To my knowledge, there hasn't been much advertising. Mostly they
spent a lot of their money to get on the ballot.
They did make reference in a Boston Globe article a
few months ago that they had a two million dollar
anonymous donation. Now, Massachusetts law prohibits anonymous donations. You have
to disclose what you spend. But they did say in
a Boston Globe atom article that they had an anonymous donation.
(20:20):
So we're we're waiting for them to spend.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, any any way possible that the that donor's last
name is Soros.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You know there, it may be. There's a lot of
funding that happened in California that makes its way into politics,
politics and other states.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So yeah, no doubt, no doubt. All right, Steve, let's
take a break. I'd like to hear from people who
were affected by this, So give us a call at
six one seven four ten thirty. Uh, if you have
a different point of view, you're more than welcome, no
doubt about that. Or six one seven nine, come on,
(20:57):
give us a l particularly if you if you have
some relationship to the industry, because when when I hear
that both the owners, the restaurant owners and the employees
are both opposed to this, or I'm sure we can
find exceptions. If there are some out there who take
it a different way, coming up with a different take,
(21:17):
we'd love to hear from you. Six one seven two
five four ten thirty. Got one line, two lines open
there and six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
Oh those lines filled? Do you want to call it now?
Six one seven nine three one ten thirty. We'll be
back on nightside right after.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
All right, my guest is Steve Clark. He is the
president and CEO of the mass Restaurant Association, and we're
talking about Massachusetts ballot Question five that proposes giving tipped
workers an increase uh in their base wage beginning next
January and continuing for five years until it reaches a
(22:00):
base wage of fifteen dollars an hour. That base wage,
it's actually well twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight,
twenty nine. It would be twenty twenty nine that they
would reach the fifteen dollars an hour plateau. But the
Restaurant Association is opposed to it, and apparently a lot
of restaurant workers, if not a vast majority of restaurant workers,
(22:22):
were opposed to it because it would also include the
obligation for wait staff to pull the wages that they
earned its tips with folks in what they call the
back of the house, cooks and clean up people. And
so this seems to me to be a question that
is not likely to succeed, but it's one it's important
(22:43):
to talk about. So let's get to phone calls and
see what would you have to say, those of you
who happen to be in the industry love to get
your perspective. We did try to reach out today to
the proponents of this group, the Yes Campaign, but they
did not respond to our request to participate tonight. And
apparently there are groups that is based in California and
(23:04):
puts this type of ballid question on ballats, not only
here in Massachusetts, but elsewhere as well. So let's start
it off with Joe and Gloucester. Joe, you were first
tonight with Steve Clark, the president and CEO of the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Go ahead, Joe, Yeah. I thought it'd be interesting for
Steve to speak to where this question had actually I
don't know if it was the same exact question that
had passed, but up in the town up in Maine,
and the results that kind of followed with that.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Are you familiar with what Joe's I.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Do feel a very A similar proposal was passed in Portland,
Maine in twenty sixteen. A couple of months after it
went into effect, the servers were seeing an actual loss
in their earnings, and they went and rallied to city
Hall and they got the law reversed. So that's a
sign of where a municipality tried this and it didn't work,
(24:04):
and the service successfully lobbied their elected officials and they
repealed it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So that probably wasn't a ballot question. It probably was
something that passed by their city council in mayor, so
easy to turn that around if this one were to
pass as a ballot question. It's tough to turn balot
questions around in Massachusetts. I hope the people who are
voting on this realized that.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Absolutely, the legislature generally defers to the to the to
the voting public on a ballot question. I believe it
was a city referendum. It wasn't a statewide referendum. I
think it was just a City of Portland referendum.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
City ordinance or a city regulation. They made a mistake,
they turned it around. Joe. Are you involved in the
industry at all, Joe.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yes, yes we are.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, Turner seat foods, which one turn to seafoods Turner Seafoods.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yes. So we have locations, we have a couple of
different locations. But you know, our concern on this, and
we've shared this with Steve is is people walking into
the ballot booth that just aren't educated on it. Yeah,
and you know, I think you know, for many people,
I mean, you know, they they think it's it's it's
only fair if someone's going to be making if someone's
(25:21):
making six seventy five, and they in the you know,
their understanding of it is, you know, why not pay
them minimum wage? But you know this this we we
we love, we love what your show is doing. And
just giving giving more education to the public, Well, I
think it's.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Important because what happens is everybody, particularly in the president's
your year, they goes, they go in and no one's
making up their mind as they're as they're you know,
walking into the polling place. They know who they're going
to vote for president. They probably know who they're going
to vote for US senator. When they get to those
ballot questions, they'll either tend to blank them or their
instinct will be probably to say yes because most people
(25:58):
that's a good idea. Yes yes, yes, yes, yes yes,
And that's uh that that's an advantage for any particularly
if they read the first sentence and I don't know
how the ballot question is phrased. I haven't gotten my
ballot question book yet, uh, which which I always look
forward to getting because you can look before you get
to the polls. And really I try to understand the
(26:20):
ballot questions ahead of time, by the way, but you
look when you go to the polls and you say
to yourself, Okay, I know what I'm going to do,
and I take a little card with me. I'm going
to go, you know, on this one, I'm going to
go yes or no, so I know exactly what it is,
so I'm not sitting in there or you know, tying
people up for an hour and a half. Joe, appreciate
your joining us with your perspective. I appreciate you listening
(26:41):
to Night's Side.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Thanks dam, Thanks Sam, Thanks Thank Joe. Good luck in
Salem in October. I know that's an extremely busy time
for you. Get thank you it is.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, good night. Let me keep rolling here. We get
one more in before the news break, and we're going
to go to a gym down on the self Shore
and hint over Massachusetts. Chim, you're next on Nightside with
Steve Clark, the president CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Yeah. Hi, I used to be a Canada custodian, and
I'd cleaned the whole bowl in the li carpets, benches,
the bar, and the bartender would want it a certain way.
And I asked at the very first night of my tenure,
(27:30):
I asked if I got some of the tip and
they were, oh, no, you don't get that. That's the bartenders.
And I said, well, the reason he gets the tip
it isn't just when making the drink. It's for the
clean area. All the stools are all cleaned, the floor
(27:51):
around the bar is cleaned, and the butt in the
Jandita should get a percentage of the tip. That was
my my pet pee for working there and washing dishes.
I for washed dishes, and I've made sure there was
no food stuck on the plate. I'm sure people don't
(28:11):
want to stare a food on a plate that's got
something stuck to him. So it's you.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I don't think you can hear me and talk to
Jim and tell him I want to ask him a question.
I don't want to talk over him, but I'd like
to be able to ask him a question. So if
he's if you're able to bring him back up, let's
see if we can get a question into him. I
think he was having difficulty hearing me. Go ahead, bring
him up, Okay, Jim, I want to ask you a question.
(28:43):
We lost him, we lost him, talk to me, guys said,
show you there tonight. Talked to me. Did you lose
him here? Yeah? Good, Jim. I'm trying to ask you
a question. The question that I asked you is did
you ever get any additional sensation from the bartender or
the owner or you just would you know? Doing your
(29:04):
job as it were?
Speaker 5 (29:06):
I did my job to the best of my Adose, No,
I know that I'm gonna ask you that quit. Do
you all know it? Called me like two months later
and said, will you come back to guys?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
He's not interesting conversation. Take it down. Thanks very much, Jim.
I appreciate your experience. It was fascinating. We're going to
take a break. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. Folks,
if you want to call in, I certainly will let
you tell you a story, no problem, But at some
(29:37):
point I probably want to engage you in a question,
in a conversation, and if you're having difficulty hearing me,
it doesn't make what we call great Radio. We'll be
right back on next night after this.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World,
Nice Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Let's go next to Joe and Hebril. Hey Joe, welcome
you next on nights. I go right ahead. Okay, I
think Joe's not ready, so let's put Joe on hold. Gentlemen,
thank you very much, and we'll move on to Alan
in Framingham. Alan in framing him. How are you Alan?
Speaker 6 (30:11):
I'm good, Dan, how are you boy?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
That's great you're there, and I'm sure the guys told
you to keep the radio down, so you were all
set and you're on the air. What would you like
to say or what question would you like to ask
of my guest, Steve Clark of the mass Restaurant Association,
Go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
So my comment is that the restaurant industry is one
of the few industries where you can start off as
a minimum wage worker and work your way up and
you know, become a manager or become a supervisor, become
a district person, become an office person. There's a lot
(30:48):
of opportunity, and I think that that can so overlooked
in a lot of these conversations.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Okay, I think you're right. Are you involved in the business.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
I am involved in the business. I started off as
a cook myself a long time ago, worked my way up,
became a manager, decided I wanted to make a switch
to administration, and I made the switch to administration, and
now I provide services to people in the industry.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
One of the things that people go ahead, no.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Go ahead, I didn't mean to drop go.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Ahead, Nope. One of the things I think people miss.
And this is kind of a different subject, but in
terms of the restaurant owner Steve mentioned earlier, restaurant owners
have very small margins, unlike high tech and things like
that that have a very high margin. But in the
restaurant industry Steve mentioned it earlier. Most people now use
(31:48):
a credit card to pay their bill. So if the
bill is one hundred dollars and someone leaves a twenty
or twenty five dollar tip, the restaurant owner is now
paying the credit card see on those tips. But they
don't recoup those fees. They can't recoup those fees, so
it's just another added expense.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yep, that's true. Being that's a little inside baseball. But
fiture I mean, I think the fees on credit cards
are what three four dollars?
Speaker 6 (32:16):
Uh, fees on credit card trages generally run around three percent.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, I mean it's it's
significant on a bill that's a one hundred and twenty
five dollars, you're talking about four dollars and no, I agree.
That's an interesting, interesting perspective as well. Allan, I appreciate you,
cal thank you very much. I got a whole bunch
of other folks like to try to accommodate as well.
Thanks so much for calling, and thanks for listening tonight's side.
I'm gonna try joe In havebel go ahead, Steve, you
(32:43):
wanted to say something, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
So I just wanted to just add to one point
to what Alan was saying. Is very few industries in
America where you can start in the first job, at
an anty level job and become the CEO. You know,
most places that doesn't have that three lattice. But that's
what makes the restaurant industry great. Most of our owners
started as cooks in dishwashes, et cetera. So I just
want to make a plug for the industry.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Sure, that's fine. That's fine. Let me go now to
Joe in Haveril and see if Joe is ready at
this point.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Joe, No, yes, this is Joe.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
November eleven is Veteras Day. And I've been to many
restaurants through the years and we get a free meal,
but we don't have we don't leave a tip. What
happens then to the waitress says should does?
Speaker 8 (33:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
So, you know, I've been the beneficiary of a complimentary
meal a few times, and I always try to leave
a tip for the server because the owner themselves is
the one that's camping the meal, the server is not.
So so the server is probably making the minimum wage
for that day because if there's no tips coming from
the consumers, then the owner is required to make them
(33:55):
minimum wage under the laws. So they're probably making fifty
dollars an hour as a way. But happy Veterance Day
and thank you for your service.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, I appreciate that, Joe. Again, any anyone who has
a meal complimentary, they certainly should also take care of
the person who serves them. There's no doubt, no doubt
about that. Thanks, appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (34:16):
Next time I next time I go to a restaurant
on Vevermin' Day. It's coming up in November eleventh.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yeah, it comes like that every year in November eleven.
It's like clockwork. Joe absolutely in the World War One.
Thanks Joe, appreciate your call. Let me go to Suzanne
and Newton. Susanne, next on, nice, I go ahead.
Speaker 9 (34:34):
Hi, thank you for bringing this spolt question to buy attention,
because I will vote in person. But and I'm sure,
I mean, if I say it's a credit card, I
leave to chip in cash, you always.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
Ship at alvers around. If you said tavy of our service,
and I'm serious, is quite wide? Probably serious? Is the
waitress's kind of limited? But I'm so glad you brought
this ballance.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, I'm glad you gave a chance to think about
it now. So what you can do is go into
the polls and make your decision. I think if you
listen to the arguments that Steve Clark, our guest tonight,
has made, I think that would probably convince me.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
I'll vote in verses, and now I will vote to
give tips without cats to the waitress and writers.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Yeah, that's not what we're talking about. Thank you very much.
Susan appreciate your call. Let me go to Beatrice in
the Bridgewater Beaches, like to get you in here under
the wire, go right hand.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
Hi Dan, I just want to say that when I
use my credit card to pay for a meal, I
always make sure that I have cash on me to
pay the tip because it's my understanding that the waitresses
don't get that tip until the credit card company, uh
you know, pay, so I always make sure that I
have cash.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, let me let me find Let let me just
find out if that's true, Steve. That surprises me what
Beatrice said, Is that true?
Speaker 8 (36:12):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah, so that it does pay sometimes well in some
restaurants or cast people out that night and they'll they'll
wait for the credit card payments to come in. Other
people have put all the tips in the payroll so
that the end of the week they get an actual
paycheck with all the tips calculated out. It really varies
across the industry, but you know, I do think I
think the servers love the credit card purchase and the
(36:34):
cash tip. I think that works out great for them.
But really it's customer preference of you know, whatever works.
But yes, there's sometimes a lag on tips, but that's
because it gets put into a paycheck.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That's that's an interesting point you raised, Beatrice, and that
might make me. I tend to, you know, at a restaurant.
If it's you know, over you know, twenty five, If
it's under thirty bucks, I'm paying cash with the tip.
If it's over you know, fifty dollars or something, I'm
probably putting it on the credit card. And now maybe
what I think I will do is follow your advice, Beats,
and have some tens and twenties in my pocket so
(37:09):
that I can leave a good, healthy, at least minimum
twenty percent tip in cash, so the waitress or the
waiter is able to take the money at home that
night and put it in their piggy bank. Okay, that's
a great suggestion.
Speaker 10 (37:21):
Only that, but they don't have to pay taxes on it,
where if they get a tech for it, they would
have to pay taxes.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yep, that's that's another factor. I agree with you. I
agree with you on that as well.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
And I know, listening.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Well, I can't imagine that any waiter a waitress would
not declare all of their cash tips as well.
Speaker 10 (37:42):
I mean, oh yeah, right, I was a wait That's
what we all recommend I went to Maine recently and
the bill was ninety five dollars and I put it
on my credit CAD, but I had money for the
tip in cash. I don't like to make them wait.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Good for you, Good for you. That's a great suggestion,
be just that was one of the better calls this hour.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Okay, thank you, thanks Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Steve, Steve Clark, thank you very much. By the way,
where can folks if they haven't been convinced by this hour?
I don't know what you're going to be able to
do to convince them. This was this was almost a
forfeit by the other side, but we'll leave that for
other considerations. Uh, is there a website people and get
more information if they still need a little more information
(38:27):
before they decide how they're.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Gonna Yeah, absolutely, protect tips dot org is the full
campaign website. And of course our website is math the
Mass rest dot org. So we are the Mass Restaurant
Association and uh, we're just excited to be on today.
We're excited to get to election day and hopefully put
this question behind us and send this idea back to California.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, there's a lot of cooky ideas come out of California,
there's no Unfortunately, a lot of them get adopted by
the other states. Thank you so much, Steve. I appreciate
it very much. We'll talk soon, okay.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
And thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Absolutely Right now, interesting hour coming up. We're going to
talk about something called glossophobia, the fear of public speaking,
and how to get over it. Back on Nightside, right
after the ten o'clock news,
It's Night Side with Dan Ray w BZ Costs Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All Right, So, as we rolled towards the election on
November fifth, not only the presidential election, but the state
elections and maybe some local elections, we are going to
periodically be looking at some of the ballot questions. We
looked at one of the ballot questions that deal with
the MCAST requirements, graduation requirement with Matt Hills on Tuesday night,
(00:30):
Tuesday evening during the nine o'clock hour. Matt is the
vice chair of the Massachusetts Secondary and Elementary Education Department. Tonight,
we're going to take a look at another ballot question.
This is ballid question five, and this is one that
(00:52):
is quite confusing, and to clarify some of that confusion,
we have invited Steve Clark, the President and CEO of
the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, to join us. I'll also tell
you that we tried to get a representative of another
group that is on the opposite side of this issue,
which seems to be a California based group. So first
(01:15):
of all, Steve, welcome to you. Thank you for joining
us tonight on Night Side. Thank you. How are you tonight? Dan?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you very much for having me. How are we doing?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We're doing fine. Now can you give me my understanding?
Is that the group that is that is in favor
of this question, and I don't expect you know you
to necessarily to us what they're saying, as you're opposed
to it. Are they a local group or a group
from out of state? And is there we we had
(01:44):
a tough time trying to find anyone to join us,
join you tonight to discuss the topic here in Massachusetts.
What's what's the story there?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So this is an organization that came out of California.
They have filed this question in massachuf this legislative league
for the last five legislative sessions, for the last ten years.
And they've also filed this similar type of legislation in
sixteen states across the country this year, all of which
have not adopted this provision. So after not having legislative success,
(02:17):
they paid about a million dollars to get on the
ballot for this year.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And here we are. We are.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We have balid Question five, which will fundamentally change the
way full service restaurants operate. They want to change the
way service and bartenders get paid. And we are we're
vehemently opposed.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay, we're gon we're gonna We're gonna break it down
for sure. But I just wanted to emphasize to my
audience that we have reached out. My producer, Marita aka
Lady Lightning, she gets to people pretty pretty well. She
has a note here. The Yes campaign has not responded
to our request, our request to join the conversation tonight,
(02:56):
So let's let's try to Whenever we deal with numbers,
I found out on on radio it's very difficult to
deal with numbers. So let's take the situation now in Massachusetts.
If you happen to be working as somebody who's on
a weight staff, meaning I assume you're somebody who's interacting,
(03:17):
and if my definition is wrong or if the definition
needs to be increased or lied more limited, it's the
waiter waitress that comes up, approaches you at the table
and says, good evening, welcome to such and such. You
know I'm going to be a wait person tonight. That's
what we're Those are the waiters and bartenders. I assume also.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
People who exactly the people at the front of the
house of the restaurants that are providing the great service
and the great hospitality that we've come to expect in
restaurants across Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Okay, so those folks, their minimum wage is six dollars
and twenty five cents. I assume there's nothing that would
stop a business owner from paying a waiter or a waitress,
or a bartender who does a particularly good job, maybe
even some particularly bartenders that that people go to the
(04:07):
bar to interact with the bartender. They can get more
money if the if the owner wants to pay the
more money. Correct But the minimum is six twenty five, So.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
A couple of corrections, so it's actually six seventy five
and went up about.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
A year ago.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So six seventy five is the base wage, and that
assumes that at least eight dollars and twenty five cents
will be made in tips. But the minimum wage is
actually fifteen. So when a server comes into the bar
restaurant and checks in, whether they serve one guest or
one hundred guests, they're guaranteed fifteen dollars an hour through
(04:42):
some combination of the hourly wage and the tips. The
reality is far more than fifteen dollars. We can get
into that, but that's not what the law.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think what you're saying is that unless you work
in the restaurant which is overstaffed and and there's very
few people coming in the door, it's tough not to
make fifteen dollars an hour as as a waiter or
a waitress or a bartender. I think that's what you're applying,
am I.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Correct, Absolutely, it's tough not to make twenty two dollars
an hour. But yes, the law is you are required
fifteen dollars per hour regardless of when you work. So, yes,
there is a a so called tip wage, and that
just merely allows the restaurant owner to employ more people
to provide the full service that comes along in a
(05:31):
full service restaurant.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So let's assume let's assume some waiter or waitress gets
let's say they work a four hour ship shift. We'll
keep it simple, and let's assume that they get sixty
bucks in tips. Okay, roughly, we'll make it easy. So
they got fifteen dollars in tips. They will also be
(05:54):
paid the six dollars and seventy five cents.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or exactly, so they're making twenty one seventy five an hour.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay, So okay, Now, what happens if the waiter or
waitress is somehow disingenuous and puts some of the tips
in one pocket and some of the tips in the other.
How does a restaurant own a control? You know, I'm
not saying any waitress or waitress that I have ever
met would do such a thing, but as a hypersonic question,
(06:21):
of course, it's a hypothetical question. How does the owner
of the restaurant, who could only have his his or
her eyes in so many places at any given time,
how do they know that that?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So the vast majority of restaurants have are our seventy
eighty ninety percent credit card, so it's kind of hard
to hide the cash tips the way people used to
hide them in the in the seventies and eighties and
even the nineties. You know, most transactions are happening on
a credit card, so you're only really seeing ten to
fifteen percent of all transactions in a given shift our cash.
(06:58):
And so it's actually much easy here to track the
hours worked and the tips that have come in than
it was, you know, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So is that done. I've never worked as a waiter,
never worked as a waiter, a waitress never worked as
a waitstaff person. Let's assume that at this day and age,
my wife and I go out to dinners one hundred dollars.
I'll put twenty percent of the on the credit card.
So does the house then understand? Okay, this twenty dollars
is going to be credited to the waiter a waitress
(07:29):
that serves that table.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Oh yeah, absolutely. And if there's severe penalties, the severe
penalties both in not paying a serve of the full
minimum wage. We have triple damages in Massachusetts. So that's
a serious wage violation, a right exactly. And then also
the tips. There's a very strict lawge Massachusetts of who
can share in tips. The tips can only go to
(07:53):
employee that's provided a direct service to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, that's going to get into this this issue as well. Okay,
so I think Steve set the stage. Uh, if there
are people who are wait staff people and want to
chime in, you would be most affected by this piece
of legislation. I'm sure there are some arguments on the
other side. We'll try to get to those as well.
Six one seven, two four ten thirty six one seven nine,
(08:18):
ten thirty My name is Dan Ray. This is night Side.
Let's get back at our conversation right after this very
quick break.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the window world
to night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
My guess it's Steve Clark, President and CEO of the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association. So Steve, give you a chance now
since we've kind of laid out the way it all works.
Right now, what is the problem with this ballot question?
You guys are opposed to it. I believe that there's
a pretty good amount of waiters and waitresses, weight staff
(08:55):
people also who are opposed to this. What what is
it going to do that it's going to disrupt circumstances,
and why is it a bad idea?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
So the very first thing the mass Restaurant Association did
was poll servers, the very servers and bar centers that
were going to be impacted by this question, and we
actually put the language of the ballot before them and
said what do you think about this? And then overwhelming
majority came back and said, we don't want this. This
is going to impact my earnings. Ninety percent of the
respondents came back and said this is a bad idea.
(09:30):
Eighty eight percent think that they have to share their
tips with other employees that don't provide direct service, they're
going to make less money. And the proponents never asked
any of the servers in Massachusetts if they wanted this.
A very similar bill was just passed in Washington, DC,
and it's been a disaster for the restaurant industry down there.
Ten percent of the full service jobs are gone in
(09:52):
less than a year. Ninety six percent of restaurants have
raised prices. And what we're really seeing is the implementation
of service charges. I'm not lying. Someone just texted me
a bill from Washington, DC and it says twenty percent
service charge. You don't need to tip. Well, the service
charge belongs to the restaurant owner to dictate where that
(10:13):
gets spent. So that's a loss of income for the servers.
So we've had one thousand servers go to our website
and sign up and join our petition and join our
campaign and more importantly, and I think what shows the
true nature of this campaign is almost one hundred servers
and bartenders have contributed financially to the null on five campaign.
(10:34):
They've reached into their hard earned dollars and contributed five
to ten fifteen dollars. The proponents of this question have
not one server or bartender from Massachusetts that has even
contributed to this campaign at all. So I think it
speaks pretty clear that the service and bartenders don't want
it because they're going to see a direct loss in
tips or in jobs.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So the impact on the current servers under the current circumstances,
economic circumstances. Uh, if if they make one hundred dollars
in tip some night by waiting on customers, waiting tables,
serving tables, that money is credited to them, uh, they
(11:15):
they do not have to share that money with the
cooks or the bottle washers or any of the back
of the house people.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Right exactly, exactly, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Uh so so what is this California group attempting to
do here? Again, we had a tough time tracking any
of them down, any any representative, and my producer is
very good at getting people to join us. What what
is what is their goal here? Who are the if
(11:46):
if the waiters and waitresses aren't thrilled with this? And
I've seen some uh some television ads I'm not sure
if they're your ads or not, which have have shown
people who were you surfers who was saying they didn't
like it? What is the potential argument? Again, there's no
(12:08):
one on the other side to make the argument. What
is the potential argument that they are making two people
to get in Massachusetts to support this this.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Well, I don't usually want to tell the people that
have endorsed a yes, but the Democratic Socialists of Massachusetts
Boston Chapter have endorsed the yes on this question. Yeah,
so you know they they they're they're they're this organization.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
How about like the Young the Young Socialist League.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
You know, they're probably lining up next, they might endorse tomorrow.
It's it's really rooted in a in a desire to
pay everyone in the restaurant the same wage and regardless
of how hard you've worked, regardless of how how hard
(12:58):
you're going to work, regardless of your skill set. And
that's what makes the restaurant industry great. It's a it's
an opportunity to have unlimited earnings. You can go in
and providing credible service to a guest and making credible
earnings in limited hours. So they really want to get
away from tipping and they want to pay everybody one
wage their organization is called one Fair Wage. I don't
(13:22):
use that name very frequently, but it's really one flat wage.
They want to pay everybody the same.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, it's always interesting when you hear a group like that.
What do you mean by by fair fair to whom? Whatever?
I don't know. Look, if there are some people who
work in the service industry who are out there and
would like to chime in on whatever side of this question. Uh,
(13:48):
there was a poll that was done recently by my
friend Dave Paleologus of Suffolk University, and it was in
the Boston Globe a couple of days ago. And if
I recall, it's one of those questions, it's it's the
last questions question number five. And and you guys are
advocating for a no vote.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Obviously, we want to know. We want no changes to
the existing law nor the tip pulling law. That we
just want the We want a lot to stay the same.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Okay. So, but what this law would do is it
would mandate tip pooling.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Uh So it wouldn't. It wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It wouldn't mandate tip pooling. It would just it would
allow the restaurant owner to mandate tip pooling. So if
the restaurant owner decided they could now move the tips
however they seem fit, so a manager would never be
able to collect the tips. I think that's pretty clear
in the law. But the if they wanted to share
tips with the back of the house, with the host,
maybe with the social media manager, maybe with the accountants,
(14:49):
maybe with the person that cleans the restaurant at night,
there's no restrictions on where those tips can go. And
I think that's truly the server and bartender opposition is
they're harder and tips are now being disseminated as wages
to other employees throughout the restaurant enterprise.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Right, and what this would do also, I think it
will have an immediate impact that the minimum wage which
the servers are being paid above and beyond their tips,
would go to nine dollars and nine dollars and sixty
(15:28):
cents year one on January first, year two would bump
up to ten ninety five year three. January first, twenty
six would be twelve thirty eight. It would eventually get
up to fifteen dollars by January first of twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Right, So think about so Dan, think about a small
restaurant across Massachusetts, in any town, and just the labor
cost that's going to go up in year one. Now,
most full service restaurants, two thirds of the employees at
the restaurant are tipped employees. So it's the highest percentage
of staff that you have in your restaurant. If that
(16:06):
labor cost goes up from the six seventy five right
now to the nine thirty on January first, as almost
three dollars per tipped employee hour, So one employee working
forty hours a week, that's one hundred and twenty dollars
business costs. Multiply that out by every server in every week.
That's an insane increase in a for the restaurant industry
(16:28):
that operates on a three to five percent margin.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It's not sole that's going to that's going to increase
the costs that the restaurant will have to charge customers exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
So they have to make up that price somehow. They're
either going to increase the cost or they're going to
put a service charge on because there's only one way
to generate money in a restaurant, and that's the product
on the menu price for the product.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So you're you're convinced that well, the poll that it
just was alluding to you, you were no vote was prevailing,
but there was still forty percent of the people who
if I recall correctly, thirty nine percent that were saying yes.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Because it sounds good.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Everyone wants to take care of their server and their bartenders, Like, yeah,
of course, I think this helps servis and bartenders. But
then when they actually asked their bartender and their server,
they're like, wait a minute, this isn't going to help me.
And so when the proponents first filed this question earlier
this year, they were touting fifty eight percent support. So
their support has been crumbling in eroding, and the Boston
Globe pole showed that it was less than forty percent.
(17:36):
So people are learning, and I think when they hear
more from the services and bartenders, they hear from the
local restaurant owners, they hear from the coalition of mayors
that are on both sides of the aisle that have
come out and posed the house chair aways and means.
Aaron Michelwitz came out today.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I saw that by the way, that was that was
an interesting, you know, interesting that he would weigh in
on it. Of course, he represents the district. A part
of his district is the North End, which is repleat
with restaurants, great Italian restaurants. I should I should mention,
but yes, so he very well might be influenced by
by that constituency.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But still obviously he also he had there was there
was three servers that came and spoke and said that
they didn't want this. So yes, he has a he
has a vibrant restaurant district, but he also has a
lot of vibrant restaurant employees from there.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Have any of the state elected officials, the governor, either
of our senators are six constitutional offices, which of course
one of which would be the governor, of governor, lieutenant governor,
Attorney general, Secretary of state, auditor, state treasurer. Have any
of them come out with endorsements one way or the other.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
No, they've They've all remained neutral thus far, okay, and
which I think tells you, which I think speaks volumes
that you know, normally when they when you talk about
a minimum wage discussion, most of our elected officials come
on board and say, yes, a good idea. So I
think their silence speaks volumes that they don't believe this
(19:10):
is a good idea. And then to go one step further,
the hospitality union is opposed to this. Well, is neutral
on this question because they don't like the tip sharing
aspect of it. So it's not often that the hospitality
union and the business owners agree on the same thing.
Evidence of what's going on in the city recently, but
(19:31):
they are not in favor of this ballot question.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, if perhaps the two issues spends pet been split,
the one fair share group might have at least had
a hope of getting the first question, but certainly not
the tip sharing question. It's very interesting. Have they spent
this group you said, has spent a million dollars on
the ballot. Have they been spending a lot of advertising?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
To my knowledge, there hasn't been much advertising. Mostly they
spent a lot of their money to get on the ballot.
They did make reference in a Boston Globe article a
few months ago that they had a two million dollar
anonymous donation. Now, Massachusetts law prohibits anonymous donations. You have
to disclose what you spend. But they did say in
a Boston Globe atom article that they had an anonymous donation.
(20:20):
So we're we're waiting for them to spend.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, any any way possible that the that donor's last
name is Soros.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You know there, it may be. There's a lot of
funding that happened in California that makes its way into politics,
politics and other states.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So yeah, no doubt, no doubt. All right, Steve, let's
take a break. I'd like to hear from people who
were affected by this, So give us a call at
six one seven four ten thirty. Uh, if you have
a different point of view, you're more than welcome, no
doubt about that. Or six one seven nine, come on,
(20:57):
give us a l particularly if you if you have
some relationship to the industry, because when when I hear
that both the owners, the restaurant owners and the employees
are both opposed to this, or I'm sure we can
find exceptions. If there are some out there who take
it a different way, coming up with a different take,
(21:17):
we'd love to hear from you. Six one seven two
five four ten thirty. Got one line, two lines open
there and six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
Oh those lines filled? Do you want to call it now?
Six one seven nine three one ten thirty. We'll be
back on nightside right after.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
All right, my guest is Steve Clark. He is the
president and CEO of the mass Restaurant Association, and we're
talking about Massachusetts ballot Question five that proposes giving tipped
workers an increase uh in their base wage beginning next
January and continuing for five years until it reaches a
(22:00):
base wage of fifteen dollars an hour. That base wage,
it's actually well twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight,
twenty nine. It would be twenty twenty nine that they
would reach the fifteen dollars an hour plateau. But the
Restaurant Association is opposed to it, and apparently a lot
of restaurant workers, if not a vast majority of restaurant workers,
(22:22):
were opposed to it because it would also include the
obligation for wait staff to pull the wages that they
earned its tips with folks in what they call the
back of the house, cooks and clean up people. And
so this seems to me to be a question that
is not likely to succeed, but it's one it's important
(22:43):
to talk about. So let's get to phone calls and
see what would you have to say, those of you
who happen to be in the industry love to get
your perspective. We did try to reach out today to
the proponents of this group, the Yes Campaign, but they
did not respond to our request to participate tonight. And
apparently there are groups that is based in California and
(23:04):
puts this type of ballid question on ballats, not only
here in Massachusetts, but elsewhere as well. So let's start
it off with Joe and Gloucester. Joe, you were first
tonight with Steve Clark, the president and CEO of the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Go ahead, Joe, Yeah. I thought it'd be interesting for
Steve to speak to where this question had actually I
don't know if it was the same exact question that
had passed, but up in the town up in Maine,
and the results that kind of followed with that.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Are you familiar with what Joe's I.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Do feel a very A similar proposal was passed in Portland,
Maine in twenty sixteen. A couple of months after it
went into effect, the servers were seeing an actual loss
in their earnings, and they went and rallied to city
Hall and they got the law reversed. So that's a
sign of where a municipality tried this and it didn't work,
(24:04):
and the service successfully lobbied their elected officials and they
repealed it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So that probably wasn't a ballot question. It probably was
something that passed by their city council in mayor, so
easy to turn that around if this one were to
pass as a ballot question. It's tough to turn balot
questions around in Massachusetts. I hope the people who are
voting on this realized that.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Absolutely, the legislature generally defers to the to the to
the voting public on a ballot question. I believe it
was a city referendum. It wasn't a statewide referendum. I
think it was just a City of Portland referendum.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
City ordinance or a city regulation. They made a mistake,
they turned it around. Joe. Are you involved in the
industry at all, Joe.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yes, yes we are.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, Turner seat foods, which one turn to seafoods Turner Seafoods.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yes. So we have locations, we have a couple of
different locations. But you know, our concern on this, and
we've shared this with Steve is is people walking into
the ballot booth that just aren't educated on it. Yeah,
and you know, I think you know, for many people,
I mean, you know, they they think it's it's it's
only fair if someone's going to be making if someone's
(25:21):
making six seventy five, and they in the you know,
their understanding of it is, you know, why not pay
them minimum wage? But you know this this we we
we love, we love what your show is doing. And
just giving giving more education to the public, Well, I
think it's.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Important because what happens is everybody, particularly in the president's
your year, they goes, they go in and no one's
making up their mind as they're as they're you know,
walking into the polling place. They know who they're going
to vote for president. They probably know who they're going
to vote for US senator. When they get to those
ballot questions, they'll either tend to blank them or their
instinct will be probably to say yes because most people
(25:58):
that's a good idea. Yes yes, yes, yes, yes yes,
And that's uh that that's an advantage for any particularly
if they read the first sentence and I don't know
how the ballot question is phrased. I haven't gotten my
ballot question book yet, uh, which which I always look
forward to getting because you can look before you get
to the polls. And really I try to understand the
(26:20):
ballot questions ahead of time, by the way, but you
look when you go to the polls and you say
to yourself, Okay, I know what I'm going to do,
and I take a little card with me. I'm going
to go, you know, on this one, I'm going to
go yes or no, so I know exactly what it is,
so I'm not sitting in there or you know, tying
people up for an hour and a half. Joe, appreciate
your joining us with your perspective. I appreciate you listening
(26:41):
to Night's Side.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Thanks dam, Thanks Sam, Thanks Thank Joe. Good luck in
Salem in October. I know that's an extremely busy time
for you. Get thank you it is.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, good night. Let me keep rolling here. We get
one more in before the news break, and we're going
to go to a gym down on the self Shore
and hint over Massachusetts. Chim, you're next on Nightside with
Steve Clark, the president CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Yeah. Hi, I used to be a Canada custodian, and
I'd cleaned the whole bowl in the li carpets, benches,
the bar, and the bartender would want it a certain way.
And I asked at the very first night of my tenure,
(27:30):
I asked if I got some of the tip and
they were, oh, no, you don't get that. That's the bartenders.
And I said, well, the reason he gets the tip
it isn't just when making the drink. It's for the
clean area. All the stools are all cleaned, the floor
(27:51):
around the bar is cleaned, and the butt in the
Jandita should get a percentage of the tip. That was
my my pet pee for working there and washing dishes.
I for washed dishes, and I've made sure there was
no food stuck on the plate. I'm sure people don't
(28:11):
want to stare a food on a plate that's got
something stuck to him. So it's you.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I don't think you can hear me and talk to
Jim and tell him I want to ask him a question.
I don't want to talk over him, but I'd like
to be able to ask him a question. So if
he's if you're able to bring him back up, let's
see if we can get a question into him. I
think he was having difficulty hearing me. Go ahead, bring
him up, Okay, Jim, I want to ask you a question.
(28:43):
We lost him, we lost him, talk to me, guys said,
show you there tonight. Talked to me. Did you lose
him here? Yeah? Good, Jim. I'm trying to ask you
a question. The question that I asked you is did
you ever get any additional sensation from the bartender or
the owner or you just would you know? Doing your
(29:04):
job as it were?
Speaker 5 (29:06):
I did my job to the best of my Adose, No,
I know that I'm gonna ask you that quit. Do
you all know it? Called me like two months later
and said, will you come back to guys?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
He's not interesting conversation. Take it down. Thanks very much, Jim.
I appreciate your experience. It was fascinating. We're going to
take a break. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. Folks,
if you want to call in, I certainly will let
you tell you a story, no problem, But at some
(29:37):
point I probably want to engage you in a question,
in a conversation, and if you're having difficulty hearing me,
it doesn't make what we call great Radio. We'll be
right back on next night after this.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World,
Nice Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Let's go next to Joe and Hebril. Hey Joe, welcome
you next on nights. I go right ahead. Okay, I
think Joe's not ready, so let's put Joe on hold. Gentlemen,
thank you very much, and we'll move on to Alan
in Framingham. Alan in framing him. How are you Alan?
Speaker 6 (30:11):
I'm good, Dan, how are you boy?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
That's great you're there, and I'm sure the guys told
you to keep the radio down, so you were all
set and you're on the air. What would you like
to say or what question would you like to ask
of my guest, Steve Clark of the mass Restaurant Association,
Go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
So my comment is that the restaurant industry is one
of the few industries where you can start off as
a minimum wage worker and work your way up and
you know, become a manager or become a supervisor, become
a district person, become an office person. There's a lot
(30:48):
of opportunity, and I think that that can so overlooked
in a lot of these conversations.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Okay, I think you're right. Are you involved in the business.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
I am involved in the business. I started off as
a cook myself a long time ago, worked my way up,
became a manager, decided I wanted to make a switch
to administration, and I made the switch to administration, and
now I provide services to people in the industry.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
One of the things that people go ahead, no.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Go ahead, I didn't mean to drop go.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Ahead, Nope. One of the things I think people miss.
And this is kind of a different subject, but in
terms of the restaurant owner Steve mentioned earlier, restaurant owners
have very small margins, unlike high tech and things like
that that have a very high margin. But in the
restaurant industry Steve mentioned it earlier. Most people now use
(31:48):
a credit card to pay their bill. So if the
bill is one hundred dollars and someone leaves a twenty
or twenty five dollar tip, the restaurant owner is now
paying the credit card see on those tips. But they
don't recoup those fees. They can't recoup those fees, so
it's just another added expense.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yep, that's true. Being that's a little inside baseball. But
fiture I mean, I think the fees on credit cards
are what three four dollars?
Speaker 6 (32:16):
Uh, fees on credit card trages generally run around three percent.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, I mean it's it's
significant on a bill that's a one hundred and twenty
five dollars, you're talking about four dollars and no, I agree.
That's an interesting, interesting perspective as well. Allan, I appreciate you,
cal thank you very much. I got a whole bunch
of other folks like to try to accommodate as well.
Thanks so much for calling, and thanks for listening tonight's side.
I'm gonna try joe In havebel go ahead, Steve, you
(32:43):
wanted to say something, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
So I just wanted to just add to one point
to what Alan was saying. Is very few industries in
America where you can start in the first job, at
an anty level job and become the CEO. You know,
most places that doesn't have that three lattice. But that's
what makes the restaurant industry great. Most of our owners
started as cooks in dishwashes, et cetera. So I just
want to make a plug for the industry.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Sure, that's fine. That's fine. Let me go now to
Joe in Haveril and see if Joe is ready at
this point.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Joe, No, yes, this is Joe.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
November eleven is Veteras Day. And I've been to many
restaurants through the years and we get a free meal,
but we don't have we don't leave a tip. What
happens then to the waitress says should does?
Speaker 8 (33:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
So, you know, I've been the beneficiary of a complimentary
meal a few times, and I always try to leave
a tip for the server because the owner themselves is
the one that's camping the meal, the server is not.
So so the server is probably making the minimum wage
for that day because if there's no tips coming from
the consumers, then the owner is required to make them
(33:55):
minimum wage under the laws. So they're probably making fifty
dollars an hour as a way. But happy Veterance Day
and thank you for your service.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, I appreciate that, Joe. Again, any anyone who has
a meal complimentary, they certainly should also take care of
the person who serves them. There's no doubt, no doubt
about that. Thanks, appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (34:16):
Next time I next time I go to a restaurant
on Vevermin' Day. It's coming up in November eleventh.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yeah, it comes like that every year in November eleven.
It's like clockwork. Joe absolutely in the World War One.
Thanks Joe, appreciate your call. Let me go to Suzanne
and Newton. Susanne, next on, nice, I go ahead.
Speaker 9 (34:34):
Hi, thank you for bringing this spolt question to buy attention,
because I will vote in person. But and I'm sure,
I mean, if I say it's a credit card, I
leave to chip in cash, you always.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
Ship at alvers around. If you said tavy of our service,
and I'm serious, is quite wide? Probably serious? Is the
waitress's kind of limited? But I'm so glad you brought
this ballance.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, I'm glad you gave a chance to think about
it now. So what you can do is go into
the polls and make your decision. I think if you
listen to the arguments that Steve Clark, our guest tonight,
has made, I think that would probably convince me.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
I'll vote in verses, and now I will vote to
give tips without cats to the waitress and writers.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Yeah, that's not what we're talking about. Thank you very much.
Susan appreciate your call. Let me go to Beatrice in
the Bridgewater Beaches, like to get you in here under
the wire, go right hand.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
Hi Dan, I just want to say that when I
use my credit card to pay for a meal, I
always make sure that I have cash on me to
pay the tip because it's my understanding that the waitresses
don't get that tip until the credit card company, uh
you know, pay, so I always make sure that I
have cash.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, let me let me find Let let me just
find out if that's true, Steve. That surprises me what
Beatrice said, Is that true?
Speaker 8 (36:12):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah, so that it does pay sometimes well in some
restaurants or cast people out that night and they'll they'll
wait for the credit card payments to come in. Other
people have put all the tips in the payroll so
that the end of the week they get an actual
paycheck with all the tips calculated out. It really varies
across the industry, but you know, I do think I
think the servers love the credit card purchase and the
(36:34):
cash tip. I think that works out great for them.
But really it's customer preference of you know, whatever works.
But yes, there's sometimes a lag on tips, but that's
because it gets put into a paycheck.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That's that's an interesting point you raised, Beatrice, and that
might make me. I tend to, you know, at a restaurant.
If it's you know, over you know, twenty five, If
it's under thirty bucks, I'm paying cash with the tip.
If it's over you know, fifty dollars or something, I'm
probably putting it on the credit card. And now maybe
what I think I will do is follow your advice, Beats,
and have some tens and twenties in my pocket so
(37:09):
that I can leave a good, healthy, at least minimum
twenty percent tip in cash, so the waitress or the
waiter is able to take the money at home that
night and put it in their piggy bank. Okay, that's
a great suggestion.
Speaker 10 (37:21):
Only that, but they don't have to pay taxes on it,
where if they get a tech for it, they would
have to pay taxes.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yep, that's that's another factor. I agree with you. I
agree with you on that as well.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
And I know, listening.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Well, I can't imagine that any waiter a waitress would
not declare all of their cash tips as well.
Speaker 10 (37:42):
I mean, oh yeah, right, I was a wait That's
what we all recommend I went to Maine recently and
the bill was ninety five dollars and I put it
on my credit CAD, but I had money for the
tip in cash. I don't like to make them wait.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Good for you, Good for you. That's a great suggestion,
be just that was one of the better calls this hour.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Okay, thank you, thanks Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Steve, Steve Clark, thank you very much. By the way,
where can folks if they haven't been convinced by this hour?
I don't know what you're going to be able to
do to convince them. This was this was almost a
forfeit by the other side, but we'll leave that for
other considerations. Uh, is there a website people and get
more information if they still need a little more information
(38:27):
before they decide how they're.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Gonna Yeah, absolutely, protect tips dot org is the full
campaign website. And of course our website is math the
Mass rest dot org. So we are the Mass Restaurant
Association and uh, we're just excited to be on today.
We're excited to get to election day and hopefully put
this question behind us and send this idea back to California.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, there's a lot of cooky ideas come out of California,
there's no Unfortunately, a lot of them get adopted by
the other states. Thank you so much, Steve. I appreciate
it very much. We'll talk soon, okay.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
And thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Absolutely Right now, interesting hour coming up. We're going to
talk about something called glossophobia, the fear of public speaking,
and how to get over it. Back on Nightside, right
after the ten o'clock news,
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