| The Montana legislature is considering a bill to partially gut the minimum wage initiative we voters overwhelmingly passed last fall (at some point, you'd think politicians would realize that they probably don't have much grounds for self-confidence if they hold such strong doubts about the opinions of their constituents).
The bill would establish a tip penalty, lowering the wages for restaurant workers who receive tips. That means that when you're tipping, all you're doing is increasing the profit of the restaurant owner, not really rewarding good service (huzzah!).
The Brennan Center, one of the nation's premier non-partisan legal think tanks, has analyzed this legislation and found it to be deeply problematic.
The way that Republicans (and, unfortunately, some Democrats) have been talking on this bill, you'd think restaurant servers were fat cats living on large estates and driving Maseratis. The reality is way different.
Even with the $6.15 an hour minimum wage, typical compensation (including tips) for the 8,600 servers in Montana comes out to a whopping $7.32 an hour -- enough to make well under the poverty line while working full-time. No doubt, servers at high-end restaurants make more money, but these servers are an exception, not a rule. High end restaurants are also (hopefully) more profitable for their owners. If they're not, the owners should stop bitching and find themselves a line of work at which they are competent.
Even worse, the Brennan Center's legal analysis finds that the House Bill in question would have much more far-reaching implications for wages than the business community implies.
Luckily, the Senate has tabled this bill, but it will no doubt be brought up again in the future. That's because, for some folks, you can never do enough to relieve the mild economic hardships of multi-national oil companies and out-of-state wealthy landowners, and you can never do to much to squeeze low-wage workers on principle. |
