DC bartender says keeping Initiative 82 ensures financial stability

D C Mayor Muriel Bowser disclosed a voter-approved measure known as Initiative necessities to be repealed because restaurant and bar owners say the higher wages for servers and bartenders are costing them business But a longtime bartender reported he and others in the hospitality industry may think about a new career if the popular law is repealed Max Hawla a bartender at the Grand Duchess in Adams Morgan has been in the industry for over a decade loves his job and the interaction with people He stated Initiative has brought him and others in the hospitality industry particular financial precaution I am definitely more assured since Initiative passed I have a higher hourly wage and my tips have stayed the same he explained WTOP The industry demands more financial stability for its working people an hour underneath your tips is not a lot In voters by a three-to-one margin approved the measure to end the tipped minimum wage and create one wage scale for workers regardless of their industry The measure increased the tipped minimum wage from an hour to match the minimum wage of non-tipped employees in Hawla stated life before Initiative was approved was tough It creates the system where people are really having to clamor for tips he commented Hawla stated if Bowser s goal to repeal the measure wins approval he and multiple others in the food utility industry may give serious consideration to another line of work The group One Fair Wage which pushed the referendum that overwhelmingly passed in also put out a blistering report on the measure calling the mayor s action a stunning betrayal of D C workers and democracy Hawla s also not buying the industry s claim that of restaurants and bars have considered closing because of high labor costs The restaurant lobby is really fabricating this narrative about all these restaurant closures he noted Operation charges are the decision of a business owner and the restaurant lobby wants to create this boogeyman out of amenity charges The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington also called on the D C Council to repeal Initiative citing that between May when the tipped minimum wage rose from just over to and August job rise stalled and over cuts were made at full-service restaurants according to records from the National Restaurant Association WTOP s John Domen and Ciara Wells contributed to this summary Source