Sawant continues to show she understands the art of negotiation which is great.

I wonder if a half credit would work - essentially allowing employers to only count half of the employee's tips (per shift, not per week or pay period or month) towards the total minimum wage. That preserves tips as incentive for more/better service, while preventing a tip credit from adversely effecting employees who do not earn fancy-restaurant levels of tips. Of course, any tip credit scheme would require policing and enforcement, something the city hasn't done for the sick leave law.

@1 Well, she certainly does depend quite a bit on semantics...

Here is an idea, ban tipping, make it illegal to tip in Seattle and pay the living wage. Problem solved.

I'm glad Sawant is fighting hard on this. This is an idea worth fighting hard for.

Better idea here for restaurants -- adopt a No Tipping policy and instead institute a XX% service charge. And then use the extra revenue to pay all employees a living wage in excess of $15/hour.

Problem solved.

What about a tip credit for people who can reasonably be expected to receive a certain percentage of their income as tips? This would allow for exclusion of tip credit in places that have a tip jar by the register that generates little actual income as opposed to places where one is expected to tip at or around 15%.

I know a lot of bartenders who would rather get their tips than a raise because they earn way more than $15 an hour.

@1 and @7: Here's an even better and easier idea: Ban the minimum wage. These people should be paid what the market requires, and NOTHING more. Right? Talk about PROBLEM SOLVED!

AND there should be NO TIPPING on top of that, though that's not really the government's place to say. Restaurants would do better business if they followed such a policy. DOUBLE PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!

And by problem solved i mean now you don't have to pay tips, and you don't have to pay more for your cheeseburger so someone else can afford to pay rent.

@10 & @11 Better yet go away! A strong minimum wage law is important for protecting workers against employer abuses.

Suppose we pass a minimum wage with a tip credit. Doesn't this set up a situation where most or all of my tip goes to the business owner, not the employee? And if I don't tip, then the owner has to make up the difference. So unless I really like the owner, why tip?

@10: A restaurant did that, and the manager/owner/whatever said he liked it a lot, and it was even better (for servers, management, and customers) than the restaurant he ran that did tipping normally. He said one of the big issues was drinks, because explaining why a drink is suddenly 10 dollars is complicated and takes up a lot of time, so that it works a lot better in restaurants without a bar, where you have a chance for the server to explain the process.

He also noticed that one of the reasons we want to tip is so that we can punish people, not reward them. The people who got most upset were people who complained. The normal process was for the management to just waive the service charge in instances where there was a big problem, but people would still be upset about NOT tipping.

http://jayporter.com/dispatches/observat…

Many parts, well worth reading.

@13: Goldy mentioned that. He also mentioned that it incentivizes owners to move good servers to shitty shifts, so that they get more subsidy from tips, because those servers will still make $15/hour, and now the bad ones will make closer too. It incentivizes all sorts of shifty/shitty behavior. I mean creating a system where you are economically rewarded from deflating your best workers' earnings? That's pretty awkward.

Back when I was in hell...I mean selling cars...the pay plan was simple: You were paid Minimum wage OR Commission, whichever was higher. The downside when you have a slow month is your taxes are based on your average estimated month...which means the tax deduction eats all the minimum wage earnings. One 2 week period, my check was $1.49 for my ~140-160 hours of work. This would be a straight-forward way to have both ends of the debate. Net pay would be much more stable in a tipped job over a commission based job, the increments are smaller and the opportunities are more frequent.

Consequence of performance in a commission based business was straight-forward too: If you got 2 minimum wage checks in a row?...you're fired.

@10 We're actually trying that right now and it isn't working out very well. The minimum wage in inflation adjusted dollars has been dropping for decades. It turns out the asymmetric nature of the employer/employee relationship means that the employees can not effectively negotiate for living wages. Instead our government has had to step in with social programs like food stamps and rent and energy assistance in order to make up for the shortfall in wages for even many full time workers.

The capitalist solution to this problem is to adjust the market with a wage floor. Effectively the government will negotiate on behalf of the powerless workers to set a minimum wage will ensure that most workers do not require government assistance merely to be able to afford rent, heat, and food. The corporations and business owners will be forced to internalize the cost of their employees by paying a living wage rather than extracting profit from employees subsidized by state and federal assistance programs.

Alternatively we could try the more socialist solution which would be for the government to guarantee everyone housing and food whether they worked or not, but our country is so mired in capitalism that not even the socialists are seriously calling for that sort of thing.

A couple of things from a server's perspective:

First, I and many servers/bartenders work ~5 hour shifts or less, depending on day, season, seniority, and many other ambient factors from arbitrary holidays to baseball games. I know many are having sticker shock about $15 min wage for tipped employees, and raising their pitchforks about workers like me. I can assure you, I am not going to Europe this year, or next, unless someone else is paying. So many people are misguided, believing we will have an enormous pay raise, when that will not be the case. Working at a tourist magnet down by the waterfront, it is not uncommon for my peers and me to receive 5% or occasionally NOTHING, from the ignorant or assholes- I'm looking at you Canada, on both counts! If you do away with tipping, and have $15 minimum wage for people like me, you can expect slower service as I attempt to stretch out my hours by any way possible. The whole idea of bartenders making "way more" as suggested, is just not true, because we cannot control the actions of our guests, and when they would like to dine, how much they will spend, how long will they stay... just so many variables. It's true, I make a comfortable wage presently, if we have a slow week, like so many in the off season, I cut my spending, pick up a shift, or take a freelance gig or two if I can find one. I live comfortably, not lavishly, kinda crappy apartment, not an ivory tower. So check your assumptions, please. Lastly, I am also afraid of the minimum wage increase, strangely from a proletariat's side, but only because of the heartless FUCKS that say "Well I won't be tipping anymore!" I have worked in hospitality for 15 years, and I am passionate about all aspects of it. I love to make people happy every day, and extend my heart to my guests, even as they treat me as a subservient mouse peering up at them as I'm standing above. I improve myself daily, sharpen my lexicon, flex my knowledge of intense, dynamic food and drink, and it acts as my cardio too! In 15 years, never once as a tipped employee, have I received a raise. It seems so bizarre to me that instead of getting high-fived like Chet down the street at Amazon for his pay raise, I feel personally threatened by the mention of ever having mine.

Some journalist sometime, somewhere, has to tell the whole truth to the public- that if the minimum wage in the restaurant industry goes up 63% with no tip accounted for, restaurants and bars which are running on 4-8% profit margin have no place to get the 20-25% extra revenue needed to cover that cost hike. The inflexibility of the union's stand and Sawant's point comes from the elementary mistake to assume that the 25% profit McDonald's made last year translates to small bars and restaurants, which are already paying the back of the house 25-50% higher wages than the state floor, utilize better bartending and server talent that has to be rewarded accordingly, and use a supply system which provides for quality of product, as opposed to the big chains "bottom of the barrel" crap.
Consequently, the only way to comply with across the board, no tip credit system, is to raise the prices with about 20-25%. Since new pricing= old pricing+tip, that's the only way those establishments can stay in business, but that means two things:
Few customers- which results in fewer shifts and partial lay offs, or
No tipping in addition to the new prices, which ensures that a lot of service industry pros will lose part, a significant part of their income.
Sawant's uncompromising stand would ensure $15 for everybody, but a definite decrease in currently solid middle class income for a lot of skilled service pros. Regardless of the intellectual and ideological disagreements that she and others might have with that, their stand is deceitful, ingenious and misleading.

@20
Thank you for being a source of reason in a sea of insanity. I can't even begin to describe how frustrating reading stuff like this is for someone in the service industry. Most Seattle bartenders only make $12 an hour? Most of their tips come from credit cards. All you people out there, journalists, politicians, armchair sociologists.... You are talking about our livelihoods as if you have the right to decide what works best for us. So damn patronizing. Clearly, there is a measure of judgement on service industry folks, a palatable distaste for us. Just admit that you resent tipping and this the perfect chance for you to no longer have to do so if your server or bartender are making $15 hour.

Puget Sound Sage says most bartenders make $12/hour. If you're making the current minimum wage and are tipped $1 per drink that means you'd only be serving three drinks an hour to get there. In what bar or restaurant is it customary for someone to only serve one drink every 20 minutes?

Tipping won't be outlawed by any minimum wage law that anyone is proposing. The only people who have the power to stop tipping at businesses are the business owners. Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour and let the free market decide what happens from there.

@20 and 21

Nice circle jerk you got going, there. Can I join?

This would actually be incorrect, #23. The tipping would not be outlawed, but it will decrease or stop, for the following reasons.
1. Some people detest it, so it would be a great excuse for them.
2. Most people- probably about 90% of the population, will not get a pay raise. The second new price= old price plus 20-25% increase kicks them in the pocket book, they will not have the disposable income to afford tipping extra. Or if they do, they will have to skip few nights out a month.
3. Those who got their wages increased, will pay about 9.5% more for everything out there (rule of thumb is 1.5% overall price hike for every 10% wage increase- across all wholesale and retail). They gonna get their rent jacked up- nobody can stop landlords of benefiting that, since there is under supply of rental properties. So, they gonna have very little extra to spend out in general.

@25 Some issues with you:

1. If someone already detests tipping, I bet they don't tip anyway. Or, at the very best, not particularly well. Secondly, if peer pressure is what gets them to tip, that peer pressure isn't likely to disappear.

2. I can assure you a 20% increase isn't going to be SOOOOO huge that folks won't be able to afford a 15% tip on good service. Let's see the math here: right now I go to a restaurant and spend, say, $60 for a meal. For that, I'll tip about $12 if I get good service because I feel like making sure people have living wages. So, 30% kick in price. My meal increases to $78 at which point, because you are payed more than min wage, I'll decrease my tip to 15% for good service which leads to a $90 bill and, wait for it, about a $12 tip. Which means I'll pay an accrued $18 more that I can easily handle.

3. Rent is going to increase no matter what. And rent is largely reflective on the value of the property, not the income of the renter. If that were true, renters would raise your rent every time you got a raise.

In conclusion: You're full of shit.

I worked in food service inn the eighties. Part of the reason tip credit went away was the abuse. Servers often had their tips imputed ( made up by the owners) and had to pay taxes on income they didn't earn. Min wage needs to be simple to be enforceable.

@22: 1) average, 2) bartenders AND SERVERS

@20: the reason they haven't is because your numbers are bullshit. People have run out the math, and it's not 20-25% extra revenue. One of the restaurateurs who posted on here alleged that it could be as much as 18% increase in costs, but admitted later that that was a lie.

@19 "you can expect slower service" seems to conflict with "I am passionate about all aspects of [hospitality]." It sounds like, in spite of wanting to provide a good level of service, you will deliberately provide poor service in response to $15 MW. When my mom waited tables, she tried to serve people quickly in part to ensure decent table turnover and more checks/hr. Can you explain how your strategy makes sense?

I rarely tip less than 20%, but really, I don't understand why it would be necessary if the minimum wage were raise to $15 and there wasn't a tip credit. Why should restaurant servers/bartenders earn more than people working at Burger King? Tell me why #21.

I don't earn anywhere near $40 an hour, and if I know that staff at a restaurant gets that much, then I don't really need to tip very much, do I?

I long for the day that The Stranger remembers that there such a thing as integrity in one's reportage.

Seriously. Could this be any more biased or less relevant to logic, facts & reason? Or, am I totally misunderstanding this and it's a $15Now ad?

@37: the best part of your post is that even though you admitted to lying in your article in the Stranger, you are serious.

@29

There will simply be less servers at any one given time. Less servers = slower service.

@30
Bartenders/servers have more skills than fast food workers. Simple answer.

...or we could institute a state income tax, keep the minimum wage exactly the same as it is, and create huge tax breaks for low-income people by lowering the sales tax. Did you know that Washington State has the most regressive tax code in the entire nation. Let me say that again: WASHINGTON STATE HAS THE MOST REGRESSIVE TAX CODE IN THE ENTIRE NATION.

Why are we talking about minimum wage? Why is a self-proclaimed socialist trying to institute dangerous and drastic measures but she isn't supporting progressive income taxes, which are the very basis of socialist policy?

Sawant isn't a socialist: she's a pseudo-progressive with an axe to grind. If she actually cared about the poor people in Seattle, she would be pushing for tax reform. But, hey, that's political anathema! No one wants more taxes! Let's just inflate the prices in Seattle instead, so that poor people are paying EVEN MORE in taxes! What a great solution!

@30 People at Burger King are unskilled workers. Period. Have you been to a fast food restaurant before, and compared it to to what workers do in high-volume, high-end restaurants? I mean, this is commonsense. But apparently people just don't understand this. It deserves an explanation:
Burger King workers are entry-level workers. They are unskilled. People who work in high-end kitchens are skilled culinary workers, many of whom have degrees in the culinary arts. Bartenders are skilled workers who are required to purchase an alcohol permit; pretty much every bartender in Seattle has extensive experience in the field, and it is a stressful and tiring job. Do Burger King workers work until 4 am on the weekends? No.

People in this debate just do not understand. Has Sawant ever worked in a restaurant? I'm guessing not. I am a skilled restaurant worker with 8+ years of experience, and I do not deserve to make $15 an hour. I don't want to make that much at my current job; it just isn't necessary. $12 an hour? That's about right. Now, if I was a manager or had a culinary degree, I would demand between $14-16 an hour. However, if unskilled workers are making $15 an hour, that means that at my current skill level, I should make $17, which is absurd. People with culinary degrees and managerial experience could easily demand between $19-22/hr, which would effectively put every restaurant in Seattle out of business.

I also work at a non-profit in a skilled position and make $14 an hour, which is about what I earn with the work I do. If the $15/hour increase was implemented, my job would be cut, and I would not be surprised to see our non-profit have to fire a large number of people and also close down at least one, if not two or three, of our Adult Day Health Centers that we operate to help support low-income elders in King and Snohomish Counties.

Does anyone in this debate understand simple economics at all? No. No, they don't. This has become an emotional debate, but it should simply be an economic one: a raise to $15/hr would be disastrous for small businesses, and, more importantly, for non-profits.

RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15/HOUR WOULD BE DISASTROUS TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SEATTLE.

@41 Comparing Burger King workers to people who work in high-end kitchens is not what I'm talking about. I was asking specifically about tipped servers. The waitress who served me at IHOP last week didn't seem much more skilled than my last 'sandwich artist.'

The required training and licensing for bartenders doesn't seem to be much more expensive or complex than getting a food handler's permit. (It can be more expensive and complex, but doesn't have to be. You can get a MAST permit with a 3-hour online course and $20.)

Do you really think that working at Burger King is not stressful and tiring?? And there are plenty of fast food places that are open 24 hours, so yes, some workers at those places are still working at 4am.

#30 the tipped industry is a vocational craft. Have you been to any of the excellent restaurants in Seattle? Can you honestly compare waiting in line for a Burger King Burger with table service or sitting at the rail of a talented bartender who perhaps has been honing their skills for years to make that 20% tip? Or in lesser fancy more divy establishments, where you literally are on your feet for 6-8 hours making drinks, listening to people's problems, stories, complaints, sometimes working until 3am. Work that is so physically demanding that sometimes you're physically sore the next day. I love how people think they know what our job is like and have no issue with comparing using a cash registrar with all the nuances of being a server or bartender. It takes certain talents and skills, and I would say many could not do well. And just like in many professions you home those skills, and make more money as you do. More tips for those with a better, stronger set of skills. Period.

@43: Do you mean a better, stronger set of skills at increasing tips? Because your ability to please the customer has less to do with your tips than a host of other factors, like if you draw a smiley face on their bill (if you're female), or if you point out upcoming good weather. The service you provide accounts for a WHOPPING 2% of all variation in your tips.

@44 and you bieve that why? As someone who has working in the industry, and have had my good days and bad days, just like everyone else, I can tell you that good, attentive service does make a difference. Also as a manager I can tell you that servers with a great attitude make more money. And that's not even including bartenders that spend years building their knowledge if classic cocktails, prodoct knowledge and customer service savvy. You really think it comes down to smiley faces? Wow. These comments just prove more and more the bigotry towards service industry professionals.

I'd honestly like to know if any of the people posting on here comparing tipped positions to fast food jobs, or saying that there's very little a server can do to earn a better tip has actually worked in the tipped industry for any length of time? There seems to be so many people that are experts in the nuances of a profession they've never actually worked in. It's Yelp culture at it's finest, and it's really not a surprise since people in the service industry are very familiar with being told how to do their jobs by customers. Now you just want to tell us how much we should be earning for said job as well.

That's what I thought.

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