Tensions flared among hospitality workers Tuesday morning outside the State House, as chants of "save our tips" disrupted a press conference held by supporters of a ballot question effort that would eliminate the lower minimum wage for tipped restaurant employees.
Sen. Pat Jehlen, D-Boston, tried to express her support for the initiative backed by One Fair Wage, which is pushing to gradually raise the $6.75 minimum hourly wage for tipped workers to meet the state's overall $15 minimum wage. Tips would still be allowed under the measure.
But Jehlen's voice was drowned out by opponents of the proposed wage overhaul, led by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and the Committee to Protect Tips.
The two sides held back-to-back press conferences ahead of a legislative committee hearing. As the earlier One Fair Wage event ran past 9:30 a.m., opponents who had been waiting across Beacon Street and holding up signs marched around the State House steps while drawing attention to their side of the argument.
Alex Galimberti, who formerly worked in the restaurant industry, said the existing system for tipped workers is not working.
"The one thing that was a constant reality is that you never knew if you were being paid right," Galimberti said. "You never knew if your hours were being counted correctly, if your tips are being paid right, and my experience is that there was always something wrong."
Steve Clark, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, called proponents of eliminating the tipped minimum wage out-of-state activists. Servers and bartenders "do not need to be saved," he said.
This is a developing story.