Seattle steakhouse El Gaucho (along with sister-restaurant Aqua by El Gaucho) has joined the list of restaurants in the city choosing to deal with the rising costs of the $15 minimum wage law by ending tipping. On Wednesday, the restaurant announced it would institute a 20 percent service charge instead of gratuities. The switch will take place on March 21.
El Gaucho joins the restaurants owned by Seattle celebrity chef and James Beard Award winner Tom Douglas and Ivar’s in the strategy.
Supporters of the $15 minimum wage insisted that implementing the arbitrary wage would not increases prices on consumers – clearly, that’s not true. It’s unclear how the strategy will impact restaurant workers. The reality is that prices are increasing for consumers and over all pay is decreasing for waiters (because, the reality is, a good waiter makes more money via tips than with a $15 per hour wage).
But the folks at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) don’t care about workers – it’s all about political power for them.
“Supporters of the $15 minimum wage insisted that implementing the arbitrary wage would not increases prices on consumers – clearly, that’s not true.”
You are correct. It clearly is not true that any supporters of raising the minimum wage ever even said this, let alone “insisted” upon it.
“… over all pay is decreasing for waiters…”
You have rigorous statistical analysis of dependable economic data to support that, right?
Meanwhile, my per-meal expenditures at local restaurants will decline, since I used to tip a minimum of 20%, often higher. Now that’s included in the bill, so I’ll tip just for extraordinary service — in other words, the purpose for which tipping was originally created.
Why don’t you produce a quote from supporters of the $15 maximum idiocy stating “Of course the high arbitrary wage will increase consumer prices”? It should be easy to find, given your certainty that none of them ever even said, let alone insisted upon, the opposite. While you’re doing your advertising-free research on this, maybe you can cite the reams of dependable economic data the Silly Clowncil used to justify their vote. This will most likely fall under your “where’s the indictments” dodge.
Why don’t you produce a quote from supporters of the $15 maximum idiocy stating “Of course the high arbitrary wage will increase consumer prices”?
Because we’re all still waiting for the original poster to name the “supporters” of increasing Seattle’s minimum wage who “insisted” there would be no increase in prices, and the documented quotes containing such insistences. Once the original poster here has done that, we can work on your request.
“It clearly is not true that any supporters of raising the minimum wage ever even said this, let alone “insisted” upon it”
You sounded certain enough to make this statement without asking for any evidence to the contrary yet you can’t furnish any proof of your claim or the Silly Clowncil’s dependable economic data used to justify their vote. Pot, meet Kettle.
“You sounded certain enough to make this statement without asking for any evidence to the contrary…”
All Shift has to do is validate their claim: provide quotes, with source citations, of “supporters” (more than one) “insisting” (making clear and unambiguous statements to the effect) that “prices on consumers” (the costs paid by the customers) would not increase as a result of raising the minimum wage.
Since Shift doesn’t seem
Interested in doing any of that, I gave everyone else an easier task: provide one quote, from one supporter, saying (not “insisting”) what Shift claims they said. Here’s your chance to prove me wrong (not necessarily the same thing as validating Shift’s claim). Get to it, and good luck.
Before the minimum wage was raised in Seattle, I asked Councilmember Kshama Sawant and the City Council what studies they had done to gauge the likely impact. They hadn’t done any studies themselves and the reference data they used was pretty sparse. They relied primarily on a single case study (for San Francisco) where the economic picture was different from Seattle and where the wage increase was much lower than what was being proposed here.
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Here’s a write-up I did based on what I got back:
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http://roominate.com/blog/2014/new-minimum-wage-for-seattle-wheres-the-data/
“They relied primarily on a single case study (for San Francisco) where the economic picture was different from Seattle and where the wage increase was much lower than what was being proposed here.”
San Franciso has the largest number of restaurants, per capita, of any city in the United States; Seattle is second. Seattle and San Francisco have similar population sizes and similar amounts of technical professionals. What is the basis for your claim that San Francisco would not be a good example for Seattle?
According to the SF realtors assn., median family income in SF in 2011 was $77K per year, while median income in Seattle for the same period was $52K per year (per this site: http://www.seattle.gov/economicdevelopment/economic-indicators/income-distribution). That’s a significant difference. If anything, SF could sustain a higher wage than Seattle because they have a greater percentage of yuppies who wouldn’t care as much what a meal costs. Yet Seattle’s wage will now be higher than San Francisco’s.
I could not make your link work, but I did find this:
“This fact is largely attributable to the relatively high incomes earned by [Seattle’s] 20th-percentile households—$26,000, third-highest among the 50 cities.”
In other words, the portion of the income earners most likely to spend money on luxuries like dining out is very large for an American city — comparable to San Francisco in that regard.
(That quote is from a Seattle City Council Member’s blog entry in Feb. 2014, so I’m a bit confused as to why they didn’t refer your request to it and to similar material at the City’s site.)
if I get good service, I generally tipped 50-70% of the bill (especially if I’m eating by myself) I’m sure that the wait staff will really enjoy NOT getting my tips anymore..
“if I get good service, I generally tipped 50-70% of the bill (especially if I’m eating by myself) I’m sure that the wait staff will really enjoy NOT getting my tips anymore..”
So you’re not going to tip anymore, ever, not under any circumstances, because there’s now an included gratuity of less than half of what you used to tip.
Yeah, right. Better luck next time.
I know a number of waitresses who made far beyond $15/hr. I’m sure many more were rewarded for their good service, even after they split with the kitchen crew (only right, cuz that’s part of the good service) I doubt they’ll see their “raise” as a windfall, as will be the case of those on the increasing unemployment line.
SO….if I get great service I am charged 20% on top of my bill. If I get lousy service I get charged 20% on top of my bill. I think I will just not eat in Seattle any more and be charged 0% for my meals. I vote with my feet.
“… on top of my bill.”
How would you get the food without a waiter?