Having seen past efforts to raise the minimum wage for restaurant servers and other “tipped†workers fail, a state senator pledged to put the issue before Nebraska voters via a petition drive.
“If this fails, we will bring this to a vote of the people. And I guarantee you, the people of Nebraska want this,†said Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha.
She was talking about LB122, which would eliminate the current state minimum wage of $2.13 an hour for tipped workers and replace it with the minimum wage for all workers of $9 an hour. That $9 minimum was set by a vote of the people in 2014.
Hunt said the bill would provide the first raise for tipped workers in 30 years, a period in which the regular minimum wage has been increased seven times.
While restaurants are supposed to pay servers at least $9 an hour if their tips fall short, the senator said that doesn’t always happen. And meanwhile, Hunt said, Nebraska is falling behind neighboring states such as Iowa, whose hourly minimum wage for such workers is $4.34.
But a handful of representatives of state restaurant and business groups, which have successfully blocked similar bills in the past, disputed Hunt’s assessments. They said that tipped workers average more than $15 an hour and that if the minimum wage was raised, customers might stop or reduce tipping, which would reduce income.
“You’re getting the wrong impression about what’s happening in this industry,†said Eric Underwood, a manager at Lincoln’s Rodizio Grill.
Hunt urged members of the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee on Monday to ignore “anecdotal†evidence and focus on federal labor statistics, which suggest that tipped workers deserve a raise.
A waitress puts in a dinner order at Tanner's Bar & Grill near 27th Street and Yankee Hill Road in this file photo from 2014. Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt wants to raise the state's tipped minimum wage.Ìý