Metro Detroit Bartenders and Servers Express Concern Over Law That Would Abolish Tipping
Detroit, – A group of bartenders and servers from across the Metro Detroit area aired their concerns about a newly proposed state law on Friday. The new legislation, designed to increase the minimum wage throughout Michigan, would concurrently phase out the tipping system which many of these industry workers rely upon. The gathering took place at the Townhouse Birmingham, a local watering hole and eatery.
Interview with Bartenders and Servers
Brian Williams, a bartender at a branch of Buffalo Wild Wings in Lake Orion, was among the hosts of this meeting. He highlighted his concern about the reduction in income he would experience without the tips that are a significant part of his wage. “We would be doing the same job for essentially a lot less, “ said Williams.
With apprehensions for his fellow industry members, Williams also shared his personal situation, “Right now, I work 3 to 4 days a week because I’m in a full-time nursing program so for me it’ll just be trying to figure out how to make that money like the same amount I do now while working as minimal hours as I can so I can give that focus to my studies,” he explained.
Williams’ co-worker, Kacey Mullins, expressed her fears about the negative implications for local economies. She believes ending the tipping system will result in a decrease in patronage and consequently harm small businesses. “Small businesses barely have enough money to pay the servers the minimum wage that it is right now, and they’re not going to get as good of clientele coming in to pay their servers because their servers won’t be there for them so a lot of small businesses will have to close their doors,” Mullins warned.
Expert Opinion
With regards to the impact on the customers, Wayne State Economics Professor, Shooshan Danagoulian, weighed in on the situation. “From a customer’s point of view, what they can expect is an introduction of a service fee within their restaurant bill. So they’re not going likely to see increases of the prices of food because restaurants are likely to try to absorb as much of it as they can,” shared Danagoulian.
Call to Action
As the law is set to take effect from February, Mullins and Williams fervently hope that policymakers will take heed of their concerns, reconsider the legislation and potentially repeal it before it’s implemented. “Listen to the people from the industry,” urged Williams, “I think maybe this was started with good intention, I just don’t think there’s enough voice from the community.”
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