After a flurry of proposals on minimum wage hikes and tip credit elimination at the local, state, and federal levels this year, union activists aren’t done yet. Campaigns led by tipped employees to save tip credits prevailed this year in Maryland (and local Prince George’s County), Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Local fights in Illinois had mixed success: Chicago city aldermen approved tip credit elimination with endorsement…

November 8 marked the one-year anniversary of District of Columbia voters passing Initiative 82, a ballot measure to eliminate the city’s tip credit. Ever since its passage, the actual implementation of the measure has been plagued by procedural delays and overwhelming concerns from restaurants, employees, and diners alike who are worried about the future of the restaurant scene in the nation’s capital. A survey of over 100…

One Fair Wage, the union-funded group pushing states and cities around the country to eliminate their tip credits, often touts to lawmakers and media that switching to a flat minimum wage won’t cost anything. With sights set on Ohio as its next target, One Fair Wage has brought the fight to Cleveland. Yet their affiliated grant-making program says they know the financial reality of their policy demands.…

In recent attempts to eliminate tip credits in Chicago and several Maryland counties, One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman vilified restaurants who chose to use service charges as a way to the rising costs associated with tip credit elimination. It turns out, One Fair Wage once endorsed service charges as a way to get more restaurants to adopt their anti-tip credit policies. Most recently, One Fair Wage…

Anti-tipping activist group One Fair Wage announced it submitted enough signatures to qualify a measure that would create a $15 minimum wage and fully eliminate the state’s tip credit. If certified and approved on the ballot in November 2024, this measure would increase the state’s current tipped minimum wage by nearly 300 percent and bring harmful consequences to the state that are already playing out elsewhere in…

Ever since tip credit elimination proposals have been introduced in states and cities across the country, customers everywhere are noticing more and more fees added to their dining bills. But what exactly are service charges? Are they the same as tips? Do they go to your restaurant server or bartender? Why are they suddenly everywhere? ServiceChargeFacts.com is a new resource demystifying the new rise in service charges…