ROCKVILLE, Md. — The fight over higher wages for tipped workers in Montgomery County turned physical when the two sides clashed outside County Council Tuesday.
Civility was nearly 86'd when officers were forced to step in when restaurant workers began pushing and shoving while arguing over how they should be paid.
"[It] is a utopian idea. Everything sounds good," said server Clifton Killings. "Dr. Frankenstein had a great idea, and he created a monster."
One group in green, backed by the Restaurant Association of Maryland, is against a bill that would require restaurants to pay workers the full minimum wage, plus tips. Currently, tipped workers make about $4 an hour plus tips.
Some servers and bartenders worry if their minimum wage increases, prices and surcharges could as well, which may lead to lower tips and less overall pay.
"In my 20 years of managing and operating restaurants, the number one reason I could not get a server or bartender to become a manager was they didn’t want to take the pay cut," said restaurant manager Michael Richmon.
Another group in pink, backed by One Fair Wage, supports raising the tipped minimum wage.
"Your tips are not going anywhere," said Joya Wade with One Fair Wage. "This is just raising your minimum wage. Plus tips on top."
One Fair Wage says tips can be harder to come by for women of color and other minority workers.
"The restaurant association is making it sound like this legislation is trying to take their tips away when there's nothing in this legislation about service charges," said Wade. "There's nothing in this legislation about making tips obsolete. It's all about raising the minimum wage for restaurant workers so we don't have people working on their feet for 10 hours a day for $2.13 an hour when people may or may not decide to tip."
Inside the County Council hearing both sides tried to point to D.C. to make their cases. However, hard data seems hard to come by with D.C. just recently raising its minimum wage for tipped workers.
Similar legislation was recently tabled in Prince George's County after officials heard from restaurant workers. The Montgomery County Council has a work session for this bill planned for Jan. 18, meaning officials are months away from making a final decision.
DC leaders say the agency that's supposed to ensure tipped workers get fair pay hasn't done its job.