| A delegation of a dozen waiters/waitresses lobbied lawmakers in Jefferson City today to vote "no" on Missouri House Bill 258 in order to protect their hard-earned wages in today's economic downturn.
"We're serving up the facts. Missouri voters spoke with a united voice just a few years ago when they voted for Proposition B, which raised the tipped minimum wage from $2.13 to $3.52. It's an outrage that some legislators would take hard earned dollars out of our pockets," said Dana Dreher, a waitresses and Jobs With Justice member.
This bill allows the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to establish rules to implement the federal minimum wage provisions. Employers are allowed to pay an employee who receives tips less than the hourly cash wage amount specified in the Fair Labor Standards Act if the total compensation of the employee is not less than the wage required under the state's Minimum Wage Law.
 REPUBLICAN REP. TIMOTHY JONES,"Business as usual."
The sponsor of the bill is Rep. Timothy Jones (R-89) of Eureka. Jones is vice-chairman of the special Standing Committee on Workforce Development and Workplace Safety that voted "do pass" on the bill by a vote of 7 to 4. Supporting passage of the bill locally is Michael Wiggins of Granny Shaffer's Restaurant. He joins other restaurateurs who claim that the bill protects jobs that otherwise would be lost because of the restaurateurs' need to compensate for their absorption of increased food costs in the wake of having fewer customers.
Those who oppose the bill, including Missouri Jobs with Justice, a non-partisan labor-community coalition, cite that tip servers cannot control whether or not they receive a tip and that their wages were determined by Proposition B, legislation approved by voters in every county in Missouri and by 76.8% statewide.
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