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After hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending, tens of thousands of voters go to the polls and hundreds of angry calls and emails to lawmakers, the controversial battle over the salary of a restaurant owner in the capital ended with a swift vote by the SDC Council.
The council approved Tuesday repealing legislation Initiative 77, a voting measure voted by 55% of voters in June.
The initiative would have put an end to a system that would allow employers to pay a few dollars an hour to workers with a tip as long as the tips of customers add up to the standard minimum wage. It would have progressively increased the current hourly wage by $ 3.89 until it meets the standard minimum wage in 2026. Waiters and bartenders make up the bulk of the paid workers.
The Council again voted 8 to 5 in favor of repealing the initiative, the same margin as in the first vote earlier in the month. Legislators who objected to the repeal tried in vain to keep a diluted version of the law. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is considering signing the bill.
The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington hailed this repeal as good news for the city's burgeoning gastronomic scene and for workers who feared their bosses would reduce their hours of work or that customers would be sparing tips if the measure became law.
The United Restaurant Opportunities Center, which sponsored Initiative 77 as part of a national campaign to change working conditions in the restaurant industry, said it would continue to fight for a standard minimum wage for all workers. The organizers say that the current legislation calls for problems, ranging from unpredictable income for workers to the theft of wages – employers who do not compensate for the difference as they should when their employees do not earn enough tips for them in addition to the minimum wage.
The repeal bill contained provisions to address some of these concerns, including a hotline for reporting pay theft and mandatory sexual harassment training for restaurant managers. Legislators must include funding for these provisions in the next budget for them to come into effect.
The council's decision to cancel the will of voters by repealing Initiative 77 inspired a debate on democracy in the nation's capital, where many voters already feel deprived of the right to vote because they are not represented at the polls. Congress.
The DC board canceled five voter initiatives, the latest in 2001 when legislators repealed a measure that limited the term of office of local politicians.
There may be another clash of voters, elected legislators and groups outside the horizon.
Airbnb has threatened to try to overturn the legislation on housing leases considered by the Council by an electoral measure by 2020. The initiative could be reversed by the council if it passed.
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