The Portland City Council voted earlier this week against placing two wage-related proposals on the ballot this November. The first would have raised the city’s minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2028, while the other would have eliminated the tip credit.
The second of these two propositions was already rejected by 61 percent of Portland voters at the ballot box just two years ago.
The tip credit is a policy that allows businesses to pay employees below minimum wage so long as they make enough in tips to at least close the gap.
Many residents have expressed frustration at the effort by Councilors Kate Sykes and Anna Trevorrow to resurrect the proposal so soon after it was defeated at the ballot box. No members of the public who attended this week’s City Council meeting spoke in support of the measure.
Despite opposition both from members of the public and other councilors, Sykes and Trevorrow appeared to remain committed to the policy, with Sykes suggesting that the meeting’s turnout was not representative of all the tipped workers in the city.
“While there is an organized response to this, that does not represent all 1,100 servers in Portland. I really caution people against looking at public comment as the totality,” Sykes said. “There is a lot of misinformation that’s come out tonight.”
The Council ultimately voted five to two in favor of sending the proposal to the Housing and Economic Development Committee, with Councilors Anna Bullett and Regina Phillips opposed.
As a result of this vote, the measure will not appear on the City’s ballot as a referendum question this November.
“I don’t support sending this to committee and I don’t support this overall,” Bullett said. “I see the industry doing a great job at managing it themselves. I really think this is a situation where we as a municipality don’t need to step in.”
Hospitality Maine — a group representing the interests of Maine’s lodging, restaurant, and hospitality industry — issued a press release Tuesday in support of the Council’s decision to not place the elimination of the tip credit on November’s ballot.
“By rejecting the proposal to send a question to the ballot this November to eliminate the tip credit, the industry breathed a collective sigh of relief,” Hospitality Maine said. “The proposed ballot question would have reduced earnings, led to job losses and restaurant closures.”
“The tip credit is essential for enabling higher wages, maintaining affordable menu prices, and ensuring the continued operation of these restaurants. We applaud the council for listening to the hardworking waitstaff and restaurants of Portland,” said Nate Cloutier, HospitalityMaine’s Director of Government Affairs.
“There is nothing I could say this evening that is more impactful than the servers who are here asking to be listened to,” Cloutier said in his testimony before the Portland City Council. “You’ve heard them say that the tip credit system plays an important role in how these workers can earn a great living.”
Among those who spoke in opposition to the tip credit’s elimination during Monday night’s meeting were bartenders, waiters and waitresses, and business owners, all expressing concern over the impact that such a proposal would have on their livelihoods.
The minimum wage proposal was also sent to the Housing and Economic Development Committee in a 5-2 vote, with Sykes and Trevorrow opposed, thus not placing it on the ballot in November.
Sponsored by Phillips, Trevorrow, and Sykes, this measure would have raised the City’s minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2028, representing a 33 percent increase over the current rate of $15 per hour.
The Council received much less public comment on this proposal, but those who did speak during this week’s meeting expressed more varied perspectives than with respect to the tip credit elimination.
Fore example, Wes Pelletier — a candidate for the Portland City Council and a member of Portland’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter — said that it is “impossible” to live in the city while making less than $20 per hour.
Those from the hospitality industry, however, explained that raising the minimum wage so significantly in such a short period of time would make it harder for businesses to survive in Portland.
During this same meeting, the councilors reportedly voted unanimously to place a citizen referendum on November’s ballot that, if approved, would change the circumstances under which hazard pay goes into effect.
Currently, hazard pay is effective whenever the State of Maine declares a state of emergency, but under this proposal employees would only receive hazard pay when a there is a municipally-declared state of emergency in Portland.
As of now, there is no clear timeline for when the minimum wage hike and tip credit elimination proposals could again come before the Portland City Council as a whole.
Keep voting Dems to the City Council and this is what you get. If it weren’t for the tourist industry, the People’s Republic of Portland would be in even worse condition. Describing this city as a s**t hole isn’t quite accurate. It’s well on its was to becoming worse than a s**t hole.