Local opinion: Chamber, restaurants support Prop 138

The Tucson Metro Chamber is asking you to vote “yes” on Prop 138, the Tipped Workers Protection Act, because it preserves good wages and jobs for your favorite bartender or server while also supporting the sustainability of our favorite local restaurants.

As CEO of the Chamber, I’ve had the privilege of forming and supporting our Tucson Restaurant Advisory Council at the Chamber, made up of local restaurants and the vendors and suppliers that support them. These are monthly opportunities to hear their highs and lows, and how the Chamber can help support an industry that helped Tucson earn the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States.

I am inspired by how the owners and managers of our restaurants turn something difficult and costly, with razor-thin margins, into a great experience for their customers. A large part of that great experience are the tipped professionals who work there, and restauranteurs go out of their way to support those workers who put in the hours to serve their customers’ needs.

In 2006, the state of Arizona implemented something called the “tip credit.” Since then, restaurants have been allowed to pay employees who receive tips, $3 less than the required minimum wage as long as their base hourly rate plus customer tips meets the minimum wage. In our conversations with tipped employees at restaurants across the state, it has been made clear that the continuation of the “tip credit” has allowed these workers to make three to five times the minimum wage on a regular basis. (If you’d like to hear one of those conversations, click here).

Prop 138 would not only protect the way things have worked for decades, but improve on it.

The Tipped Workers Protection Act would secure a sustainable tip credit system in the state Constitution. It ensures tipped workers can earn above minimum wage while aligning the tip credit with inflation-based minimum wage adjustments. Under Prop 138, the tip credit could be up to 25% of the current minimum wage, provided employees earn at least $2 above the minimum wage for employers to apply the credit. This benefits both workers and employers by maintaining fair wages and a balanced system.

This is a win-win for everyone because it increases workers’ guaranteed pay while also giving restaurants more margin to manage wages, costs and prices. Tipped employees around the state are asking for this protection of the good wages they’ve been making through tips while enjoying flexible work and schedules. You, the customer and patron, also benefit from restaurants being better able to keep your final bill as low as possible!

As commonsense as this all sounds, it’s not been without detractors. A major out-of-state effort has been underway the last couple years to strip away the tip credit from tipped workers, ignoring the layoffs, lost wages, and closed restaurants that have resulted from similar efforts around the country.

Other critics argue that base pay for servers and bartenders in 2025 will be slightly lower if Prop 138 passes, due to recent minimum wage updates. That argument is short-sighted. Regardless of how the minimum wage fluctuates with the Consumer Price Index, Prop 138 guarantees that every tipped employee in an establishment taking advantage of the tip credit will always make at least $2 an hour above the minimum wage, providing a stable and significant pay boost for workers with long-term benefit.

A “YES” vote on Prop 138 protects the local restaurant and food industry as we know and love it. An industry that provides jobs, supports families and those individuals both trying to get to their next phase in life and sustaining high wages for those who are making the service industry a career. As an added bonus, it also enhances Tucson’s vibrant, award-winning “foodie” culture. Preserving the tip credit helps ensure these beloved businesses can continue to thrive, keeping the dining scene Tucsonans enjoy alive and sustainable for years to come.

On this one, we’re going to trust those who work in the industry, and our small businesses, to tell us what policy framework they prefer and most need to thrive. Join us in voting “yes” on Prop 138.