Prop 138 is a Pay Cut for Tipped Workers – Yikes!

Written by State Senator Mitzi Epstein

The Nefarious Truth…

    I’ve been out in this hot weather knocking on doors,  talking with folks about the issues that concern them.  They tell me that they want  great schools,  jobs with high-pay,  affordable housing,  affordable healthcare, secure water, and safe neighborhoods. 

All of that gets better when you have more money in your pockets,  when you get paid appropriately for your work.  Generally,  my Democratic colleagues and I have been working toward exactly that:  More Money in Your Pockets.  

At the door,  I talk about the plans we Democrats have that would support access to childcare, reduce the prices of prescription medicines,  and build more affordable housing.   But there is a nefarious truth that I don’t have time to explain at the door.  

I’ll take a minute to explain it here.  With bill after bill Republicans sponsor,  speech after speech they make,  I have come to realize that my Republican colleagues have a theme:  LESS money in your pockets. 

Less Money in Your Pockets – Theme of the Republican Caucus in the AZ Legislature

1- Prop 138 on your ballot is a pay cut for tipped workers, with only GOP votes.    LESS MONEY for Tipped Workers, 

2- GOP opposed the 2016 increase to the AZ minimum wage.    LESS MONEY for entry-level jobs 

3- Each year, Republican lawmakers have tried to punish Flagstaff and other cities for requiring  a livable wage  relative to their local cost of living. 

4-  Some Republican-sponsored bills would have limited the weeks you can collect Unemployment Insurance, forcing people laid off from middle-class salaries into minimum-wage jobs.   The few Republicans who opposed those bad bills  lost their Republican primary races this summer.  LESS MONEY for middle-class, middle-management workers. 

5- Republican Tax favors for the richest few,  and not for you.   They keep enacting taxes that require the middle class to pay more while billionaires and big corporations pay less.    

6- Dune buggies for ESA-universal voucher users,  while teachers ask parents in regular schools to pitch in to pay for Kleenex.  

• ….  Wait a minute,    DUNE BUGGIES?  !??!!
• !!  Headlines this week: The  ESA universal voucher program allowed and approved a parent to use tax dollars to buy 3 dune buggies!  Now the state has revoked that approval.   Good luck getting the money back from that parent.  
• I am working to stop the  Waste,  Fraud,  and Abuse that this Universal ESA Program has caused because Republican lawmakers wrote it without any accountability guardrails. 
• You can help!  Please click here to donate to my campaign for re-election.  
• A teenager recently asked me,  “What does the Republican Party stand for?  What are their goals?”  I’ve been giving that a lot of thought.   From my experience in the legislature,  I firmly believe …
  *** Republican Lawmakers are the Party of LESS Money For You.  ***  
  It’s Labor Day weekend so let’s look at Prop 138. 
  Vote NO:  PROP 138 – the PAY CUT for Tipped Workers . 
  Prop 138 will be one of many questions on your ballot. 
  One question,  Prop 139, the Abortion Access Act will be on your ballot because over 800,000 people signed petitions to put it there.  Viva democracy of, by , and for the people!  Please vote YES.  If we don’t have this right in  the AZ Constitution,  we do not have this right.  AZ Republican Lawmakers voted to keep the nearly-total ban on abortion this year, and they will do everything they can to control our bodies unless we get this right in our Constitution.  Yes on Prop 139.  
  Eleven other questions will be on your ballot because Republican Lawmakers are still pouting about having a Democratic Governor elected by the people.  Gov. Hobbs would not sign their most outlandish, extreme, obnoxious bills,  so they are sending these stinkers to the people of the state instead.  My Democratic seat mates and I voted,  “NO”  on Prop 133 – Prop 138, when they were bills in the legislature.   We voted,  “NO” on Prop 140,  and NO on  props 311-315, when they were bills in the legislature. 
  Prop 138 was SCR1040, the Tipped Worker Pay Cut.   It passed with only Republican votes.  Every Democratic Lawmaker voted, “NO!”  
  What would it do? 
  Here’s my video explanation, complete with  White Board!   Click on this picture: 
        
  Current law:  
  Tipped workers get paid $3 less than minimum wage. 
  If Prop 138 passes:
  Tipped workers get paid 25% less than minimum wage.
  You see what the conniving bill sponsors did there?   They changed it from a flat three dollars to a percentage.  
  25%  is a bigger cut to pay than $3.00  this year. 
  25% becomes an even bigger cut to pay every year going forward!  
  Current law: 
  $14.35   = Minimum Wage 
  $   3.00   = Restaurant and hotel owners can pay tipped workers $3 less than Min Wage 
  ————– 
  $11.35   =  Tipped workers’  hourly wage now.  
   
  If Prop 138 passes:  
  $14.35   = Minimum Wage 
  $   3.59   = Restaurant and hotel owners would pay tipped workers 25% less than Min Wage 
  ————– 
  $10.76  =  Tipped workers’  hourly wage if Prop 138 passes.  
   
  Clearly,  $10.76  is LESS MONEY  per hour than  $11.35.  Prop138 is a pay cut for tipped workers. 
  The schemers who wrote this bill as SCR1040,  included a requirement that the worker must be making $2 more than minimum wage before the employer can cut the wage further.  But that is ridiculous.  
  There is no enforcement, and no requirement for documentation of the $2 bonus.  
   This badly written law is unclear if the requirement is that the worker made $2 over minimum wage once, or repeatedly.  
    If a worker is making just $2 more than minimum wage,  or up to $2.58 over minimum wage,  as soon as the boss cuts their pay to 25% less than minimum wage,  THEY WILL NO LONGER BE MAKING  $2 over minimum wage!   
  *** Oh MATHY-NESS!   Legislators and lawyers are not well-known for their skill with numbers.  But I am. That’s why the sheer math-illiteracy of this proposition makes my jaw drop in disbelief.  
  Aside from the details of the badness of this proposition,  the big problem is the underlying principle.
  Democrats want you to be paid for your work. 
  Republicans have devised a way for LESS MONEY in your pockets,  with Prop 138. 
  Please vote NO  on Prop 138,  because it is a Pay Cut for tipped workers.  
  If you appreciate my work fighting against ideas that hurt workers,  would you please consider donating to my Re-election Campaign? 
  Thanks!         
        
  Thanks for reading, and thanks for helping to fight for democracy itself!  
  As your state senator,  I work for excellent public education, great jobs, and a healthy environment.  We have some big challenges in Arizona to protect our water, our safety from violence, equal rights, roadways, and more. I am listening to you. 
  If you have any concerns or questions  please reply to this email to ask me.  Or call my office.  My assistant, Kathy, is always glad to take your call and relay a message, or set up an appointment.   602-926-4870 
   
    
  State Senator,  Legislative District 12 – Ahwatukee, Chandler, the GRIC, and Tempe
  Running for re-election in the November 2024 election. 
  Office phone:  602-926-4870  
  Office email:  [email protected]