The organization seeking to place a ballot initiative on November’s ballot that would urge Arizonans to raise the minimum wage submitted signatures on Wednesday.
Increased Wage via Political Committee Beginning in November 2022, Arizona has started collecting signatures for a ballot initiative known as the “One Fair Wage Act.” The state minimum wage would increase by $18 per hour under the proposed legislation, from $14.35.
Additionally, restaurants would eventually be required to pay all employees the state minimum wage, regardless of whether they earn tips, as it would gradually reduce the number of tips that employees may use to reconcile their compensation with the minimum wage.
Currently, the Secretary of State’s Office and county recorders will go through the process of verifying the submitted signatures. The proposition needs 255,949 valid signatures to be eligible for the ballot. The number of signatures One Fair Wage filed was not disclosed, although they did surpass the target, according to a press statement. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the campaign submitted 354,278 signatures after this item was first published.
As per the statement released on Wednesday, Saru Jayaraman, the President of One Fair Wage, expressed confidence that the ballot measure, when it comes to November, will encourage voters from important groups to vote in favor of a raise and guarantee that all Arizonans, including those in the service industry who receive tips, can earn a fair and complete minimum wage to sustain their families.
A rival ballot proposal supported by the Arizona Restaurant Association and submitted through the Arizona Legislature will go up against this one. This bill would permit restaurants to tip employees at a rate that is 25% below the minimum wage.
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Known technically as the “Tipped Workers Protection Act,” Senate Concurrent Resolution 1040 was previously defeated in the Senate by a vote of 16–12; only Republicans supported the resolution. This was during one of the busiest closing days of the current legislative session.
When the bill was approved by the House of Representatives in April by a vote of 35 to 24, it was backed by every Republican and a few Democrats.
According to state legislation, eateries are already permitted to pay tipped employees $3 less than the minimum wage and utilize the tips received to make up the difference. If the ballot initiative, which is supported by restaurant owners, is adopted, employers will be able to pay tipped employees 25% less than the minimum wage, provided that the worker’s hourly compensation plus tips exceeds $2.
A lawsuit has been launched by the proposal’s opponents, who contend that the ballot item is unlawful since it does not protect tipped workers, despite its misleading moniker.
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Increase the Salary For the resolution to be prevented from appearing on the November general election ballot, Arizona wants a judge in Maricopa County Superior Court to rule that it is unconstitutional. Court proceedings for that lawsuit are still ongoing.
Similar allegations against Raise the Wage AZ’s ballot initiative—that it will increase costs for restaurants and customers—have been made by the ARA, the group responsible for a fictitious grassroots organization that organized protests in favor of the project.
In states where there have been ballot proposals to raise the minimum wage, groups using the same name as the ARA-backed outfit have surfaced.
Supporters of the proposal cited the impact that a minimum wage change may have on restaurants in Washington, D.C. A law ensuring tip workers received the minimum pay was passed by the district in 2022.
Op-eds and statements, frequently from nearby servers, were circulated to mainstream media sites as part of a conservative-led astroturfed effort against the shift in the area. “Save Our Tips” was another moniker utilized by the campaign. Even though the hike wasn’t in effect at the time, nearby restaurants started tacking on surcharges in response.
Utilizing comparable terminology and reasoning, Lincoln Strategy, a Tempe firm associated with a former Trump advisor, oversaw the campaign in Washington, D.C. The CEO of Lincoln Strategy, Nathan Sproul, informed the Mirror via email that his organization was not associated with Save Our Tips AZ.
