@99, you know that they only increased the minimum wage to $4.25 in 1990 vs $3.80 by the federal rate (which the feds had at 4.25 just a year later).

If you're talking about being only 12% higher than the fed minimum wage then it's not so drastic. That would be $7.95 today.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/…

What you're ignoring is that there's a cycle to how minimum wages rise.. some states go, fed follows, then some states raise it further... etc.

Friedman has been a drama queen, but I'm actually kind of shocked that he's essentially calling for Dom to be fired. People who have met him, is he really--and pardon the term--such a whiny little bitch in real life?

What's being proposed has never been done before. You cannot reference minimum wage increases of the past and think that the same situations will happen. What's being proposed is a massive minimum wage increase in the state that currently already has the highest minimum wage, and zero tip credit.

@32 maybe we should stop serving you. Also, pretty sure you will not be missed at any restaurant because clearly you are clueless. You are probably someone that claims to be an excellent tipper and then leaves 10%.

Um, why are you sending spies to employee restaurant meetings? What's the agenda behind that?? We are having meetings because we make way more than $15/hr and don't want to see our profession destroyed in Seattle.

What kind of information are you fed over at Tea Party central? For Dave Meniert to write a letter assisting employees is fine because HE KNOWS HOW MUCH MONEY WE ALL MAKE in Seattle. A lot more than $15/hr.

Anyway, what's with the spies again? Seriously weird.

@90: Ironic that you complain about someone else's lack of integrity when you admitted that you completely made up the numbers that were the crux of the editorial you wrote a couple weeks ago.

Remember when you wrote an editorial about how dumb everyone who disagrees with you is, and then in less than a day those same people goaded you into admitting that your numbers were totally fabricated?

@99 -

$15Now leader Jess Spear has called for moving away from tipping in her statements. Sawant has vilified tipping. And Labor backers of $15Now have told me directly they want to change my business model and get rid of tipping.

When we raised the minimum wage in Washington for tipped workers in the late 1980's, we lost 11,700 jobs and experienced higher inflation. Among restaurants we saw a significant decrease in the numbers of servers per restaurant to the point where Washington now averages the fewest number of servers per restaurant in the US

I want to raise the minimum wage to $15. It will cost me a lot of profit to do so in the short run, but I think it's the right thing to do. IF we can count tips for servers as part of the MW. This makes total sense. It's not an evil proposal. It raised the minimum wage for well over 90% of workers in Seattle to $15, and guarantees the rest never make less than $15 (since they already make well over that).

The only untruths being told here are by $15Now advocates and ROC when they put out info about how tipped workers in Seattle live in poverty, and claim they average $9.87 per hour. This info would be a joke were it not being used to try to lower so many peoples' incomes.

Count tips as wages and ensure everyone gets a increase in income, or don't and make sure a whole class of workers gets a decrease in income.

@106
Venturing into Romney territory.
Make up fake facts fitting your needs, repeat it over and over, use your money taken from your workers to work against their interests. Your fake facts are easily disproved, but by then the sloggers have moved on and your BS has been taken in. Now you're cohering your employees and friends to astro-turf on your behalf. Euwwww.

Your astro-turfing campaign is really, really smarmy.

@106: Remember when you said that raising the minimum wage "will mean115 jobs lost" at Lost Lake? That was an "untruth", wasn't it?

This could be a really good debate, but it sucks that you and some of your fellow restaurant owners cannot be honest with your numbers. It puts your whole argument in question.

$15Now group, Socialist Alternative the ROC are not shy or secretive about the fact they want to dismantle the tipping culture. This is well documented.

The 1988 STATE increase does not offer a reliable comparison to our current (CITY) situation.

- The $2.30 minimum wage of 1988 was $1.05 (or 31.3%) LESS than the Federal minimum wage of $3.35 in 1988
- The minimum wage of $2.30 had been so since 1976 – 12 years with no increase.
- The jump from $2.30 to $4.25 over two years would be the equivalent of going from $4.64 to $7.85 in today's dollars.
- We are well above the $7.85, now currently at $9.32 and scheduled to automatically increase in January 1, 2015 based on the CPI.

Washington State at $9.32 currently has the highest effective minimum wage in the nation for tipped workers. When SEATTLE (City not the State) raises the minimum wage, with a tip credit this will not change.

A server in Seattle will never make below $9.32 per hour (plus cost of living increases already built in). Seattle tipped workers can continue as they currently do, highest effective minimum wage with no change to the tipping culture. This is no penalty. It works, leave it alone.

Tips are income and tipped employees in SEATTLE are not low wage workers.

Astroturfing:
The practice of masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participant(s).

It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations more credibility by withholding information about the source's financial connection.

@107 - what facts are made up? Be specific and I'm happy to answer.

The made up 'fact' here is from Dom. He's lying, he knows I'm not behind a campaign to convince servers of anything. But integrity in reporting isn't one of Dom's strong suits.

Dear @92:

Assuming one's personal anecdotal experience can be generalized to the point of negating the experiences of tens of thousands of other people who DON'T share that same experience makes one an ass.

Don't change the law that protects workers from being forced to pay our own wages. Make any increase in the wage law a real wage increase, not a Windfall Profits to the business owners.

Allowing business owners to claim our tips as their own money will result is Windfall Profits to the business owners. The owners can slash payroll expenses because the workers will be paying their own wages. The business would be off the hook for paying wages!

@Meinert: Did you write this paragraph, as Dom's source alleges:

Let your servers know that if tips aren't counted as part of the minimum wage, tips will probably go away, and a service charge will be implemented which would have sales tax taken out and would have to be used to pay for the wage increases. It's most likely that no one would ever make over $20-$25 per hour, if even that.

If so, it is full of lies. Tips will not probably go away, there's no way to know if a service charge will be implemented, and it's very likely that servers will continue to make over $20-$25 per hour.

As Mike Wallace said:
"Your words, not mine..."

"Hey all - Sawant and $15Now are on the attack to keep tips out of total compensation in the minimum wage fight. We need servers to come out now and support tipping. Can you collect emails I can take to the Mayor and his task force, and possibly publish in the Times or Stranger? Need them asap. ----- I suggest passing this on to staff. We will send these to city council and the mayor. If anyone wants it to remain private or anonymous they can let me know and it will."

It's your email Dave, I know people that got it. Dom is not lying.
Your campaign
Your self-interested Bullshit

Smarmy.
Totally totally smarmy.
I've got work to do.
Bye bye

Have any of you ever worked in the restaurant industry? What do you all do for work?
As a long time bartender, I make a comfortable living wage well above $15 an hour. I get a lot of negative responses when the price of a drink is too high and even though I didn't make the prices (which are in line with all the other prices of surrounding restaurants) and I was still polite and smiled, I don't get a tip. Just ask yourself if you would tip knowing I am making $15 an hour? Let's not forget that your check average just went up 20% (to cover costs) so you're now paying 40% more assuming you tip 20%.
I hope I still get tips from you and make $15 an hour. I just doubt that it would happen. Unfortunately, we won't know and I'd rather take my chances by not changing anything and I still make my comfortable wage.
All I ask is do your research and some simple math. The small businesses that are barely breaking even now will have to close. I know this because they've been on the brink of closing for years and this would crush them.

Nicely done Dom. I once challenged Dave to find out how his employees feel on this issue free of coercion. My suggestion was he simply ask them through a secret ballot whether they thought their tips should count towards the minimum wage. In order to be objective such a ballot needed to be conducted without any anecdotal threats of job loss or other adverse employment consequences. Once they have been baselined on the subject then he could have an objective, fact based discussion about the possible ramifications of a minimum wage increase. Apparently that approach didn't work for Dave ... instead we get a classic case of employer coercion. So, like I said, nicely done Dom .... but I now worry about your future employment. We saw what happened to Goldy when he took on the Cool Kids Club.

Okay enough. What do we restaurant workers have to do to persuade you that we have the same stance as these owners you falsely believe to be millionaires, that we DO NOT live in poverty, that we enjoy our profession and are in no way oppressed by our employers? We are uniting as service industry workers, we are brainstorming with people like Dave Meinert who shares the same view as us (what is wrong with wanting to group together and get info to the council? 15Now is doing this everyday - and where is the integrity on spying on a private meeting of employees talking about their rights?)

If you don't believe we are all real, let's have a public debate about it? And you will see us all and hear how much we don't want to be making $15/hr in this industry without tips. CNBC poled 2,300 people, 77% said if they knew their server was making $15/hr they would not tip. Don't blame Dave Meinert, blame your crappy research and being brainwashed. If you truly care about people, listen to the people. And let's raise the wage responsibly and in a way that doesn't destroy the culture of Seattle.

Dear @112

All right. You are a jerk and I am an ass and there has not been one iota of information passed between us that furthers the cause at hand - moving people out of poverty.

The comments world is such a grand place...

@118: CNBC did not poll 2300 people. 2300 people responded to a Yes/No question on CNBC's website. That's totally different.

I wish we could have an honest debate on this important issue. The misinformation coming from the restaurant industry is unfortunate.

@92 Not listening to the personal experience of low wage workers while fawning over restauranteurs is what's problematic. But, again, data trumps personal stories. A rational debate doesn't revolve around the cries of restauranteurs who have already cried wolf over paid sick leave, which they have survived just fine. Just ask Mr. Douglas how he overestimated the cost of that initiative by two thirds and how it hasn't resulted in one job loss at his business.

@104
I tip 15% regardless of service (even for shitty service), 20% for good service, more for outstanding service.

Judging from the comps and friends and family discounts I get from the places I frequent (they all provide outstanding service), I'd say they appreciate my patronage.

Also, at a 20%-30% tip rate my server is generally pulling down more than $15 an hour from me alone when I sit in their section… So, as much as I appreciate their service (and talent), I can’t help but feel that they are adequately compensated for doing the job at hand.

Hey, David @ 111: From your comment and the text messages you sent yesterday, you seem to believe I'm lying. I offered to correct any errors. Your point, I inferred from your reply, was that you were not behind the effort to contact restaurant staff. However, you confirmed that you sent the message to these business owners with the goal of them distributing it to restaurant staff. Perhaps someone else instructed you to send that letter and you are suggesting that they, not you, are behind the effort? I'm not clear. Again, if there is something wrong in my post, I am happy to run a correction.

Just a little more "food" for thought:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-restaur…

The Tipping Hierarchy

The waiter/bartender/shift/tipping hierarchy is well known by anyone who has been "in the business" for any length of time. The well placed work hard and cash in but the new, incompetent and out of favor get the crapy shifts.

I think the people that support paying the owners wages out of their own tips, are the bartenders & waiters that are seasoned & highly placed in the server pecking order. They are getting the shifts they want, the profitable ones. That is natural and the way it works. Some places pool the shift tips and share a percentage with the bussers, runners and back off house but the prime shifts are still had by the Alfa workers.

The pecking order is dependent on the owner/manager's Fiat.
There are hundreds of waiters, bartenders that have really well paid jobs but there are thousands working minimum wages that this would clearly benefit (as long as the owners don't claim their tips)

We are hearing from workers on top of the earning totem pole protecting their higher earning jobs, they don't seem to have any solidarity with there poorly paid fellow workers.
Plus this is just the restaurant workers, not the thousands of other workers that will benefit greatly from a higher wage.

Ramp up the Minimum Wage to $15
Don't let the owners claim worker's tips as their own!

Shill on the Hill,
Who are all of these MW workers that will keep their jobs & not be replaced with higher skilled people from other cities.You think owners are just going to sit back and not adapt to the new changes. Yes the MW actually promotes discrimination..It will be nice to see all the business hiring out of town White boys who are competing for the new jobs (Remember their will be a Wage lift ..the frmr $15 now makes $18) and minorities left holding the bag like in San-Francisco. But it makes for a nice headline while the reality is that its just a way for money to move from the really poor to the working poor. Nice work JILL

@126

I just want to point out that you were an asshole to Jill for reasons that had nothing to do with me, or Dominic Holden, or anybody else. Please don't blame others for your own choices, OK?

You "job creators" are so arrogant about your personal responsibility and hard work, so right here would be a good opportunity for you to take personal responsibility for your own dickish behavior.

Great to see the successes Mr. Meinert has enjoyed here in Seattle.
His minimum wage employees likely number well into the hundreds. They do not deserve to be covertly manipulated to work against their own interest and lobby other to do the same.

Here is the short list of Mr. Meinert little empire.

Dave is owner of The Comet, 5 Point Café, Big Mario’s New York Style Pizza & Lost Lake.
Co-owner of the Capitol Hill Block Party.
He also owns a boutique travel agency,
A record label,
An artist management company (where he manages Blue Scholars, Common Market, Hey Marseilles, and Fences),

Ahh boy. Jill you are actually wrong on all your facts about Davids ownership and interests, He is a co-owner in all businesses with the exception of the 5 point, and has nothing to do with the capitol hill block party anymore.

Anyway….that aside.

The suggestion of total compensation is simply a way to ensure that those living below the new suggested living wage of $15 get the raise they need, while those who are clearly over the new living wage, are not given an unnecessary raise, making it possible for an entire industry to adapt to the new shift.

The tip average at my restaurant yesterday was 21%, based on sales. The lowest hourly w/ tips was about $19 per hour, highest was $39.93. I'm just curious if people really think that my servers, who do incredibly well need a 6 an hour raise?

If it was to go to $15 across with no total compensation i think it would shake out like this.

Ultimately the price will be passed onto the customer one way or another, and the effects will likely mean less income for servers. It will ultimately create a distribution of wealth between FOH and BOH, which may be good? Unfortunately restaurants operate on margins to thin to absorb the cost, so either the customer will see one of 2 things in my prediction...

1- a flat service charge (like you would currently see now on large parties) that would then be used to pay the new wages.

2- Inflation of about 20% with no tip line made available, and slightly higher wages for FOH than BOH. Like starbucks….

Both likely would lead to less earnings for the FOH staff in most instances, but just like the total compensation model, Back of house would be at $15.

That being said, Informing staff that there IS a real movement to try to eliminate tips as a form of income is hardly egregious to those making tips. They should know and get involved if they care to continue to see the existing system stay in place.

Tips are 90% trackable as most are paid with credit cards, and end up on the staffs w2's and are reported to the IRS. There are no smoke and mirrors here. The argument that owners will steal a tips etc etc doesn't really hold up.

Shill on the Hill.
What would you prefer..Meinart be unsuccessful and own one business and hire just a few people. So its a negative that he has alot of employee's? I dont really get your logic. He creates jobs..some low wage..some not> without him those employee's have to find another employer who creates jobs to work for who like Meinart will pay them similiar.
Starting a business is a RISK..Failure Rate is high...We are lucky if we can survive with one business let alone many to provide people opportunities.

People like you think the magic "job" Fairy waves her wand and in the morning you wake up gainfully employed..

Anyone who works in the service industry can ask their coworkers whether they have worked in a state with a tipped wage of $2.13 per hour. Ask them if they're better off here or in a place with a tip penalty.

These sockpuppet accounts and astroturf campaigns can send all the secret emails they want, but in the end the workers know they're better off getting the same full minimum wage as everybody else. Don't (want to) believe it? Ask. They don't need Dave Meinert to make crystal ball predictions about the future, or listen to any of these fake Slog sockuppet commenters. Ask your coworkers.

They've been there and they've done that and they know they make more here than there.

@129
Ahh boy. Jill you are actually wrong on all your facts about Davids ownership and interests
~Thank you! for the updated information, I stand corrected. and I applaud his entrepreneurship.~

@130
Apparently your snark glasses made it hard for you to read the first line of the post... "Great to see the successes Mr. Meinert has enjoyed here in Seattle."

We all "tip our hat" to owners and people that work hard, hire employees and play fair, all of which Dave Meinart certainly seems to do. It is also fair play to disagree with Dave's efforts to rewire the minimum wage law to favor his particular situation. Dave's documented astroturfing is just plain creepy thou, well below what I'd expect.

Ramp up the Minimum Wage to $15
Don't let the owners claim worker's tips as their own

So long, Bye bye be well, enjoy life.

The owners routinely claim to be "liberal/progressives"
Taking a page from the Koch Brothers play book they are working for and funding super conservative groups like:
Forward Seattle/ One Seattle
Washington Restaurant Association.
Seattle Restaurant Alliance

Check out the Media and City Hall lobbying campaign well under way.

Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Restaurant Association:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsno…

Forward Seattle:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/capitolhill/20…

JEREMY HARDY owner of the Coastal Kitchen and Mioposto Pizzeria:
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/print…

Seattle Restaurant Alliance:
http://warestaurant.org/blog/restaurants…

Wait jill, so know we are not progressives because we are forming an opposition vs just bending over and taking it. Shame on you for playing that type of game with people. I dont wish any business owner the unfortunate experiance of dealing with you. You hypocrites that pretend to be authentic and tear apart the small biz you frequent without really understanding what your really going to do

Wait jill, so know we are not progressives because we are forming an opposition vs just bending over and taking it. Shame on you for playing that type of game with people. I dont wish any business owner the unfortunate experiance of dealing with you. You hypocrites that pretend to be authentic and tear apart the small biz you frequent without really understanding the impact on the business on the labor force.

@135
What is the "Game" I'm playing?
Daring to speak my mind in the face of your opinion?
How exactly am I pretending to be something I'm not??

I'm pointing out the political bodies Restaurant owners fund like the Seattle Restaurant Assoc, do their political biding and these Assoc are in fact classically conservative, pro-business / anti worker organizations.
The Seattle Restaurant Assoc, Wash Restaurant Assoc consistantly fight changes making workplace conditions better for the worker. That is what they are paid to do.
Sick Leave, Minimum wage, Comp Time, Workplace conditions, Workers Compensation Insurance, The Industry Associations has fought to weaken all these. The Industry Associations are in fact very anti-worker, and that is certainly not "liberal/progressive".

I'm not disrespecting you but I may well disagree with your assumptions.

Suffice it to say, I too am "A real live employer". Many, many years and counting. Cheers.

A small business may fail if it's forced to pay $15/hour.

In contrast, corporations and larger businesses can easily afford to pay $15.

Its time to realize that not all businesses are the same.

We have all been conditioned for decades to accept that corporations and other large businesses can get away with paying the same minimum wage that tiny businesses have to pay. It's fundamentally wrong. We need to re-calibrate our thinking.

Each different business should pay wages according to how much profit that particular business needs to stay afloat and to still be profitable for the owner.

If a tiny business goes under from having to pay $15/hour then what good does the $15/hour law do? Killing small businesses only opens up new opportunities for more corporations to come in and monopolize.

In the end, there is more to consider than just the employees. You also have to address the reality of the small business itself. Small business opportunities help to build a strong middle class. Without small business, you have only corporate masters and the worker slaves.

the best Facebook comment on this: Fuck you, he didn't do what you told him!

the evidence is clear, why do europeans and south americans not tip correctly in the states? because service workers are paid better salary's and don't take tips on top of the bill in their countries. if you want to be paid fifteen dollars and hour than you wont be tipped out, duh. i grew up in seattle and now live in nyc working as a waiter, i make 5$ an hour and the rest is tips, i know how i can make more money as a server when i have the right costumers, but is has less to do with my service skill than how my guest wants to tip. my service skill is really more what gets me a job in a restaurant that attracts customers who are more inclined to tip heavy. if you want to run the risk of being tipped out, and you work hard to be employed at a restaurant that caters to rich guests who are inclined to tip well, you will make money. if you are an average service industry employee you would probably do better taking 15$ now and foregoing tips. it is simple, do you want social benefits of a high standard wage or do you want wage leniency with the possibility higher than standard tip pay? make your choice employees, but know that you will change the architecture of restaurant dining with your decision.

Since we have computers now, restaurants should display the total running turnover of money in and money out. Tips will be included and as long as the place stays in the red and the owner makes their predetermined cut % after lawful obligations, the employees can get money back for their work on top of the $15 minimum wage. Earnings including tips(E)-labor, taxes, L&I, social security, insurance, rent, utilities, lawyer, phone bill, transportation, fuel, food, accountants, bonuses, healthcare?, owner income(L)=broke(B) or profit returned to employees(P). E-L=B or P.

sorry meant black.

A solution would be to raise the minimum wage only for jobs where tips don't exist and keep thing as they are for whoever collects tips. Bartenders and waiters (done it for years) feel more like independent contractors.