DC Council breaks rank with Mayor Bowser, voting to keep Initiative 82 in place

DC Council votes to keep Initiative 82 in place

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser?s effort to repeal the Districts? tipped minimum wage was derailed today by the D.C. Council. Some owners of restaurants and servers have been warning that Initiative 82 is killing business and hurting their workers' pay but in a shocking move, the council went against both the mayor and the council president. FOX 5?S Tom Fitzgerald reports.

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s effort to repeal the District’s tipped minimum wage law was derailed by the D.C. council on Monday.  

Some owners of restaurants and servers have been warning  that Initiative 82 is killing business and hurting their workers' pay but in a shocking move, the council went against both the mayor and the council president, who want to see the bill rolled back.

Inside the meeting:

The meeting was emotional, and personal at times, as tempers flared between D.C. Councilmembers debating Initiative 82. 

D.C. voters approved I-82 in 2022. The stated goal was to phase out the "tip wage" system, where workers earn a lower than the base minimum wage but receive tips to go over or above that. 

On Sunday, it looked like the council was poised to repeal Initiative 82, but that’s not what happened once the council convened.

What happened:

In a last-ditch move by councilmember Janeese Lewis George, the council voted seven to five to strike from the Budget Chairman Phil Mendelson’s proposal to completely restructure how tipped workers in D.C. are paid.  

But during the contentious council debate, Medelson presented his plan as a "pause" on I-82. 

"For me, this is worker-driven, not third-party advocacy groups who think they know what’s best for workers," Mendelson said.

But a majority of the council disagreed, and the debate that saw the chairman’s plan unraveled was heated, loud, with members' microphones being cut off.  

"Most of the benefits would be seen by large restaurants who helped craft this subtitled repeal behind closed doors. Let me be clear, this subtitle, as written, would hurt small restaurants," councilmember Janeese Lewis George said.

Protestors took to the steps of the Wilson building, demanding that council break ranks with the mayor and chairman. They argued that an initiative that won 74% of the vote shouldn’t be discarded. 

But some council members say if I-82 continues, more restaurants will close.

"It preserves I-82 and, unfortunately, it sends a message that even though we all know things are working, we’re ok with the status quo," councilmember Brooke Pinto said.

What's next:

What’s clear is that while the tipped wage survived this repeal attempt, it’s not out of the woods. 

Both supporters and opponents of Initiative 82 on the D.C council say they will re-visit this question this month before the second vote on the budget July 28, and that could lead to more talks, more changes and more fights.