Nicholas Moll

Marine Science Major

Last week, over a dozen restaurant servers at a press conference in Portland to support raising the minimum wage on the ballot this November. Over the summer many of them helped collect signatures for this referendum which would raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017 and then a dollar each year until it reaches $12 in 2020. Just as importantly, it incrementally raises the subminimum wage for tipped workers (which is just $3.75 an hour plus tips) until all workers are paid the same fair wage in 2024. This increase for tipped workers is so important and was the main reason so many of us came together to speak out last week.

While my employment never involved receiving tips, almost my entire working life has been in what are known as back of the house jobs in restaurants and  want to speak to why raising wages is good for all workers in the food industry.

Until recently, my employer had me working as a chef de partie, a sort of chef in waiting, for a restaurant in Portland. After three years of non-stop work, this work had me terribly burned out and hungry for a change of direction in my life. My employer has switched from the restaurant to SMCC. This left me with a very personal viewpoint on how employees are treated and trained as well as the conditions they put up with to make money.

When my employment started in the back of the house, my pay was just above the minimum wage. It’s no surprise that there’s a national shortage of cooks – the low-pay does not match the cost of living and does not justify the time and energy put into the work. Raising wages will help restaurants offer competitive wages and retain good workers for these kinds of jobs. These rates will allow individuals to earn enough to budget for all their expenses as opposed to some of my peers who take out extra student loans just to feed their kids. That is not right.

When my experiences in the kitchen come to mind, the most striking aspect would have to be just how competitive and toxic the work environment could be, and was,  for all employees. It’s not uncommon to hear about tension between front of house and back of house workers in a restaurant. One of the primary drivers of this tension is this unfair wage dynamic in restaurants. One portion of restaurant employees are paid by their employer and another portion is paid by their customers.

Many of my old coworkers would always have the same envelope at the end of the pay cycle. Their paycheck came out to zero with the sub minimum wage. An employer has an obligation to employees to pay them for their services, always. Having a wage that, after taxes, comes out to zero is unethical and, quite literally, a slave wage. Too many servers wouldn’t even bother picking up their checks because they always said the same thing. “My employer believes that my time, work, and energy are worth $0”. Tipped workers are disproportionately women, roughly 66%, and many of these same women are mothers who have more mouths to worry about than their own.

As many people hear about today, sexual harassment is rampant in the workplace. 37% of reported sexual harassment cases are restaurant related and those are only the cases that are reported on. There isn’t a single ounce of pride that, when I look back on my time working in the kitchen, I was part of  this toxic culture. This is a product of this unhealthy power dynamic between workers that set by the management. It shouldn’t be this way.

This initiative would allow so many people in this state to acquire the wages needed for survival.This is a step in fighting poverty. Census data from 2007 to 2009 shows that states without a separate subminimum wage for tipped workers have lower rates of poverty than their counterparts (Allegretto and Filion 2011). This bill also puts in an incremental increase so that minimum wage doesn’t practically double overnight. This is a great argument for the referendum, but the opponents of this initiative think otherwise.

These opponents like to make the argument that raising the wage like this would be bad for small business owners. This isn’t necessarily the case. Sierra Dietz, a small business owner in Rockland, says that, “A minimum wage increase would make a level playing field for small business owners like me.” This is a small business owner that has to compete with the local big box stores and having those stores pay their employees more may allow her to expand her clientele base.

Front of house and back of house workers, and all workers, would all benefit from this referendum to raise the minimum wage. It starts to put everyone on an even field and encourages cooperation. Many states that have already raised their wages are showing signs of job growth.  That’s why many of us collected hundreds of signatures to put this issue on the ballot this November, and it’s why so many are standing in solidarity with front of house workers, back of the house workers, low wage workers, and everyone that struggles to pay for the food for their families.