Grace McGovern is a server and bartender at a brewery in downtown Boston. McGovern also works for One Fair Wage, the organization backing a November referendum that would gradually increase the wage of tipped employees until it meets the state minimum wage in 2029. Courtesy of Grace McGovern.
Grace McGovern, a 24-year-old bartender and server at a downtown Boston brewery, recalls one recent customer vividly. He was very rude.
It was a slow night, and she only had one table, a large group led by a man who “kept touching my lower back and my leg and making jokes,” she told Stateline.
It rankled her, but she smiled and laughed along with him, knowing that much of her pay for the night would come from whatever tip he and his companions left her.
Now, McGovern has turned her irritation to action, and is advocating for a referendum that would raise the hourly rate for workers who earn tips up to the standard minimum wage.
“Men will still be creepy,” said McGovern, who is the state’s organizer for One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit seeking to end all pay below minimum wage. “But [if the referendum passes], I’m no longer relying on their money to make a full minimum wage for the day.”