BOSTON (SHNS) – Restaurant owners and workers openly acknowledged the problems of wage theft and harassment in their industry Wednesday, but argued that a ballot measure seeking to eliminate the bequeathed wage structure would not address the underlying problems.

With less than a week until Election Day, about 16 restaurant workers gathered on the steps of the Statehouse to urge Bay State residents to vote against Question 5, warning that the measure would result in lost jobs and services reduced and will not achieve the proponents’ objective of stimulating. the livelihoods of tipped employees.

“Wage theft is real, harassment is real in the workplace, discrimination is real in the workplace, sexual assault is real in the workplace, and we need to do better for our workers on these issues, but this bill doesn’t it will be resolved. this,” said Joe McGuirk, a bartender at Highland Kitchen in Somerville, during a news conference organized by Massachusetts Restaurants United.

He continued: “In fact, we think this bill will affect the places that I’ve been fortunate enough to work in, the places that I actually enjoy going to – local places, owner-operated places, the places that define our neighborhoods , that they add character, uniqueness and authenticity to our neighborhoods, places that serve all of our residents, not just some.”

MRU represents 1,200 restaurant members who are independent operators with fewer than five restaurants in Massachusetts.

Fair wage advocates rallied outside the state capitol recently “to highlight the growing crisis of wage theft in the Massachusetts restaurant industry and expose the corporate-backed anti-worker agenda of opponents fighting fair wages for workers with a tip”.

Friday’s OFW event included Senator Pat Jehlen, Representatives Samantha Montaño and Steve Owens, and attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan. The campaign, which says it’s focused on ensuring a living wage for tipped workers, last week also threw its support behind Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Sen. Lydia Edwards and Rep. John Moran. Moran Politico later said did not support the campaign.

Saru Jayaraman, president of the OFW, told the News Service on Wednesday that workers in Boston, who were surveyed 11 years ago when the campaign began, saw the “subminimum” wage as the “key solution” to all the problems raised by workers with tip. Jayaraman also pointed to a recent event hosted by OFWs where Harvard Law School professor Catharine MacKinnon discussed her research on the high rate of sexual harassment among tipped workers.

“She said the most effective solution she’s ever seen is to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers. She said it was more effective than outlawing sexual harassment, which was her life’s work,” Jayaraman said. “So we’ve published several studies over the years that show that states that have a fair wage, a full minimum wage with extra tips, have a sexual harassment rate that’s half that of Massachusetts, than the 42 states with a sub-minimum salary. , and also a third of the wage theft rate.”

Tipped workers in Massachusetts, including waitresses and bartenders, currently earn an hourly wage of $6.75. If they don’t earn enough in tips to reach the total hourly minimum wage of $15, their employers must make up the difference.

Question 5 would phase out that tilted wage structure over a five-year period. The question also includes a provision that allows employers who pay workers at least the state minimum wage to administer a tip pool that combines the tips of tipped workers and distributes them among all workers, including non-tipped workers such as dishwashers.

Nancy Caswell, operator of Brine Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Newburyport, argued that voting no on Question 5 would give restaurant owners more time to improve working conditions and promote the well-being of “restaurant families” — without the financial consequences of the referendum.

“A ‘no’ vote on Question 5 will allow us to return to the table for more thoughtful discussions with those who operate businesses here in Massachusetts, not with activists in California,” Caswell said.

Caswell, a former HRU president, later warned: “When it comes to this ballot initiative, it looks like it would be good for our industry, but it hurts us, so please believe us and trust us . This is not something that will be easily reversed.”

Asked about the concerns discussed by opponents Wednesday, Jayaraman broadly criticized leaders of HRU and the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, the main opposition group to Question 5, for allegedly having wage theft complaints filed against them, according to public records requests on which she said the OFW obtained from the Office of the Attorney General.

“Workplace violations are so common in the industry that four of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association’s eight board members have had wage theft complaints filed against them with the Massachusetts Attorney General, with two already facing enforcement action from the office of the Attorney General”, OFW. said in a report released Friday.

MRA CEO Steve Clark said his association was “horribly shocked” by the allegations against one board member in particular and said the OFW “completely fabricated the whole story.” Clark said he checked with other board members and confirmed they have no pending litigation or settlements against them.

“During a press conference outside the State House, Saru and her team specifically used demonstrably false and defamatory language against the businesses of Doug Bacon, Chairman of the Advice Protection Committee, as well as members of the Board of Directors of the Restaurant Association ME. “, the commission said in a statement.

At Wednesday’s event, McGuirk, the Somerville bartender, said he has spoken to hundreds of Massachusetts restaurant workers who are “overwhelmingly” against the question. He said he can count under 10 workers who plan to vote yes.

To fix problems among restaurant workers, plus other low- and middle-income workers, McGuirk said policies are needed to address “the underlying issues.”

“We’re going to address spiraling housing costs, we’re going to address our health care costs, we’re going to address the wealth gap that exists between white-collar workers and blue-collar workers that has grown over the last 40 years,” he said.

Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll separately reiterated their opposition to Question 5 on Wednesday.

“As former waitresses who know what it’s like to rely on tips, we know how hard our servers work and believe they deserve to be well compensated for all they do,” Healey and Driscoll said in a statement. “That’s why we join servers across the state in opposing Question 5 because we believe it will reduce their compensation, not increase it. We also support our restaurant owners who believe this initiative will hurt small businesses and increase costs for customers. That’s why we’re asking voters to carefully consider the harm this question will have on our servers, restaurants, customers and the Massachusetts economy — and vote No on the 5th.”

Ana Sortun, a partner at Cambridge and Somerville establishments such as Oleana, Sofra and Sarma, said the move would not help the restaurant industry, which already operates on “very thin” margins. Sortun singled out a number of restaurant workers she is concerned about if voters approve the ballot question.

“I’m worried about our support staff, people like bussers and food runners, people like dishwashers and barbacks. I’m worried about their jobs,” Sortun said. “We’re going to have to shed some of those jobs. I am concerned about the loss of service and hospitality.”

Jayaraman rejected that argument, saying he had “an enormous amount of evidence that there is absolutely no truth to the idea that jobs will be lost or tips will disappear.”

In Washington, DC, where the city is phasing out tipped wages, Jayaraman said there was a 7 percent increase in restaurant jobs and a nearly 7 percent increase in workers’ incomes. A recent one Tufts University Analysis says not enough time has passed to adequately assess the impact of politics in the nation’s capital.

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