Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang, the primary sponsor of the resolution, said that it is important for municipalities to show support for this type of legislation.

By Josie Grove

The Somerville Board of Aldermen resolved last Thursday to support the state bill, S.982, “One fair wage for workers in Mass.” The resolution is a nonbinding statement of support for a bill under consideration in the state legislature, which proposes to raise the tipped minimum wage to be the same as the untipped minimum wage by 2022. The resolution was approved by all nine aldermen present at the meeting.

Somerville resident and restaurant worker Alex Galimbreti presented the resolution to the board on Thursday. “Tips should be a supplement to your wages, not the entire wages,” he said. Galimbreti is an organizer with the Restaurant Opportunity Center, a national organization that advocates for higher wages for restaurant workers.

In Massachusetts, restaurant workers who make tips are paid a minimum of $3 per hour, just a third of the state minimum wage for untipped workers. Galibreti believes this change is critical in ensuring the city’s future. “Service jobs are the new factory jobs.” Galibreti cited the growth in restaurant jobs in Somerville, which is part of a statewide trend. Across Massachusetts, employment in the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes restaurant jobs, has grown more quickly than in many other sectors of the economy.

Galimbreti acknowledged that some restaurant servers do make a lot of money in tips, but not all servers benefit in the same way. “This may not affect somebody working in Harvard Square on Saturday night making a lot of money, but if you’re working on a Thursday afternoon in Ball Square, you’re not making a lot of money.”

Aldermen Mark Niedergang, Rebecca Gerwitz, and Matt McLaughlin brought the resolution to the Board. The resolution, “Supporting One Fair Wage for workers in Massachusetts” is a statement of support for the state-level bill hat moves to equalize the tipped and untipped minimum wages.

Alderman Niedergang of Ward 5 was the primary sponsor of the resolution, seeing it as part of a larger program for the Board. “We passed a number of resolutions over the last year in support of labor unions, in support of working people, in support of workers’ rights issues,” he said, including a resolution encouraging the developer of Assembly Square to hire union workers.

“Since there’s legislation in the state legislature, I thought it would be a really good idea for the Somerville Board of Aldermen to express its support,” Niedergang said.

Resolutions are statements of opinion, not laws. “What it does, in this case, is support what’s going on in the legislature,” said Niedergang. “When a whole board of a municipality supports something, the folks who are advocating for it in the state legislature can say it has broad support. People are more likely to support something if it has broad support.”

Senator Patricia Jehlen is the sponsor of the state bill, and represents Somerville in the state Senate. The bill, S.982, proposes incrementally increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers until 2022, when it will be at the same level as the regular minimum wage. S.982, is under review by the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, and has not yet been to the floor of the State House.

Some Somerville aldermen want to go further, and eliminate the separate minimum wage for tipped workers in Somerville. “I would like to see us do this here on the city level,” said Alderman Gerwitz. “That’s the great thing about municipalities, is that we can lead the way.”

Niedergang wants to wait to make a policy change at the city level. “I’m not even sure what we can do legally, but my inclination would be to see it happen on a state level first, if possible.” Statewide legislation would impact many more restaurant workers, he said, and he is optimistic about the legislation’s fate on Beacon Hill.

But for now, the Board of Aldermen has declared its support for the bill, with its unanimous approval of the resolution. “This is the next step we should take,” said Alderman-at-large Dennis Sullivan just before the vote. “We have a long history of supporting restaurant workers.”