The Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance (ORHA) released the results of a survey on Tuesday morning that shows many restaurant servers and bartenders do not support the removal of tipped position wages.
Of the nearly 1,000 tipped workers surveyed, 93% say that they would like to keep the current system of a base wage and tips, and 91% believe that they will earn less money if tipped wages are eliminated.
The ORHA is pointing to this survey as one of the reasons that they oppose a ballot initiative that advocates hope will go on the Nov. 2024 ballot. The ballot initiative would raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour for all employees by 2026 and eliminate the tipped position rate.
Currently in Ohio, the minimum wage is $10.10 for non-tipped employees and $5.05 for tipped employees.
The ORHA does support a similar bill, introduced on May 1 by Ohio Senator Louis Blessing, a Republican representing part of Hamilton County.
The senate bill proposes a slower path to $15 an hour, by 2029. The bill also does not remove the tipped position rate, but does increase the rate to $7.50 per hour by 2029.