Community members gather in opposition to Restaurant Relief Act

Restaurant owners, workers, and the community in Denver continue to express their concerns over HB25-1208, the tipped wage bill.

Community members protest against HB25-1208 outside of Weathervane Cafe

By Juli Yanai

Concerned Colorado restaurant and bar owners, tipped workers and community members gathered outside Weathervane Cafe on 17th Ave in Denver, on March 11, for a press conference and rally against The Restaurant Relief Act, HB25-1208.

 If passed, HB25-1208 would allow restaurants to deduct an additional tip credit from the wages of tipped employees to effectively flatten out their hourly wages across cities and meet the state minimum wage of $11.79 per hour. In Denver, the tip credit currently offsets wages by $3.02 from the minimum wage of $18.81, which means that tipped employees in Denver make $15.79 before tips. Therefore, enacting the bill could result in significant wage cuts for tipped employees in Denver and beyond.

The conference, which was organized by Communications Workers of America’s Denver chapter (CWA 7777), hosted several speakers in opposition to HB25-1208. Community members also gathered outside of the Weathervane storefront holding signs of protest against HB25-1208 and expressed their concern for the future of tipped employees across Colorado.

In a brief opening speech for the conference, Weathervane Cafe owner Lindsay Dalton spoke on her views regarding the bill, “I just want to say that I am still shook that this bill is even on the floor because, in 2019, we all voted for minimum wage increases. For them (the bill sponsors) to take this away without putting it back from the ballots is a direct subversion of the people.”

Dalton also said, “House Bill 1208 would cause poverty in a time when we are struggling to keep up with Colorado’s rising prices. We are concerned that Representative Steven Woodrow, Rep. Alex Valdez, and Sen. Judy Amabile are not listening to everyday people. They seem to be more concerned with corporate restaurant owners and the restaurant association than their own constituents.”

Following Dalton’s opening speech, Joseph Mitchell, an employee of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and member of CWA Quad Seven spoke about his experiences and views on the bill.

“I’m here today as a tipped employee at a corporate chain to tell you that our voices need to be heard in the debate around cutting our wages. Last year I made $42,000. In Denver, that probably means I should pay rent, food, and other necessities. Many of my coworkers are one medical expense away from [living on] the street. A $ 4-an-hour pay cut would mean about $8,000 less per year for workers like me. We can’t afford that and we are some of the better paid workers in this industry.”

Speaking from his perspective as a business owner, Jeffrey “JJ” Bebout of Roostercat Coffee said, “We don’t have a cushion of operating capital, but what we do have is an understanding of what our labor percentages need to be and what our sales need to be to break even. And from a business perspective, I don’t find that an increased minimum wage is a burden, especially up against the cost of turnover, of training, of people who call in because of the distress that a lower wage presents.”

Councilwoman Sarah Parady also added to the conversation, “One of the things that is the most maddening to me about this legislation is that there is proven economic data out there that shows when you cut people’s pay, one of the first things they do is stop going out to eat. They stop grabbing their coffee. They stop going to the bar. So, what we’re doing here is creating a scarcity mentality and a downward spiral for all of us when we could instead be thinking about how to lift up the whole city by investing across the board and making policies that make all of the issues we’ve heard about today (such as) rent (and) supply chains easier for everybody.”

In some of her final remarks, Parady noted, “I also want to make it clear that there’s no example I know of in U.S. history where a state has actually cut minimum wage that has already gone into effect. Why? Because that’s insane. The Legislature is trying to direct me and my colleagues to pass the bill to cut pay in our city. I will not show up for that vote. I will be absent at best on that day.”

According to Democratic and Republican sponsors of HB25-1208, the bill aims to support restaurants by addressing disproportionate wages between tipped and non-tipped workers by altering the structure of the tipped wage credit system. By having greater wage offsets for tipped employees, the bill allows more leeway to pay untipped employees, legislators say

However, community members expressed their concerns, citing various reasons why they don’t want the bill to pass.

Alyssa Alberto, who has been immersed in the restaurant industry from a young age due to her parents owning restaurants, reflected on the changes she’s seen and discussed how the bill could affect her and her loved ones.

“This is what gets me through school. If my wages were cut I would have to work more hours, which means I would have to cut my school schedule and it would just drastically change the trajectory of my school schedule and everything. It’s scary to think about the constant anxiety that people would deal with and the way that people are going to treat us after how we already get treated. I get no-tipped all the time, and I know I could break service but it’s scary to see that we might not be able to afford to live here again.”

Hilary Pellerin, who works as a server shared, “I still can’t afford health insurance, I still can’t get therapy and I still can’t pay for my depression medicine. I am struggling mentally, so hard, if this does happen it will probably make me have to move back home, and I came out here for more of an opportunity because I also graduated from college with an environmental degree. I am a natural resource technician and they don’t even pay me enough, so I need these tips to make it so I can drive to work, pay for gas, and pay for my insurance.”

HB25-1208’s prime sponsors are D-Rep. Steven Woodrow, D-Rep. Alex Valdez and D-Sen. Judy Amabile, and the bill was introduced in the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on Feb. 11. The bill has since passed through the bi-partisan committee with an 11-2 vote on Feb. 20, and is currently still under consideration.