A Democratic candidate for state representative on the South Shore says she’s against Massachusetts Question 5, which differs from a stance she took the last time she ran for a seat in the state legislature.
Former Pembroke selectman Becky Coletta, who is running for state representative in the Sixth Plymouth District, said she opposes the ballot question that would eliminate the state’s subminimum wage for tipped workers during a recent WATD radio forum.
However, she told Progressive Massachusetts during another run for office that she supported eliminating it.
Here is what Coletta told that organization in March 2020:
2. Fair Wages. Do you support eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers in support of one fair wage?
BC: YES.
Coletta answered this question while running for Massachusetts Senate. She unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Plymouth and Barnstable state senate special election in 2020, finishing fourth (20.2 percent of the vote) in a crowded primary won by Susan Moran of Falmouth.
Yet, when asked about this year’s Question 5, which would accomplish the same thing, during the WATD forum on October 16, 2024, Coletta said she is against it.
“I’m no on five and this was actually a bill that was before the committee I worked on last year and the reason it’s a ballot question is because the legislature also didn’t think it was a good idea,” Coletta said. “The reason I’m against it is because I’ve heard over and over again from servers and people in the doors even is that they’re against Question 5. And the other reason is that this question would allow pooling of tips and the tips could be shared with back of the house and possibly even managers. That’s never happened before. We’ve had tip pooling before, but never tip pooling where the back of the house and the managers get to share in those tips that are earned by the front of the house. So it’s the tip pooling piece that really has me concerned. And we’re already covering our servers who don’t make as much in tips with the mandate that their pay be brought up to minimum wage if their tips don’t get there.”
Meanwhile, her opponent, Republican Ken Sweezey from Pembroke, said in that same debate that he is a strong no on Question 5.
“Emphatically no on five,” Sweezey said during the same WATD forum on October 16. “If you talk to workers. If you talk to your local mom-and-pop restaurants in the district, no one wants this. Of the surveyed workers, it was over 88 percent didn’t want it. I have people coming up to me constantly when I’m out enjoying the great restaurants in the district asking for No On Five signs and asking what’s going on with the ballot initiative. Nobody wants this. It was introduced by an outside group outside of Massachusetts for really unknown reasons of what the need is. There’s no need. They are already required to make a minimum wage of at least $15 minimum, including their tips. They’re getting paid well above that because we have great service employees down in our district who live in our district and enjoy our business as well. And the restaurant owners and operators frankly will not be able to afford this. If you think things are expensive now, this, again, is going to that affordability. If you do this, say goodbye to any cheeseburger or any other meal that’s going to be less than $30-$40.”
Question 5 in Massachusetts asks voters if the state should raise its tipped minimum wage from $6.75 an hour to match the state’s minimum wage by 2029 (now $15 an hour). Currently, if a tipped worker’s employer pay plus tips doesn’t add up to $15 an hour at the end of a shift, the employer has to make up the difference, according to Mass.gov. The amount that the employer must pay to make up the difference varies. Oftentimes, a tipped worker already earns more than $15 an hour on his own.
In addition, the ballot question would let restaurants administer tip pools that include all of the restaurant’s employees, including back-of-house workers. Currently, restaurant tip pools in Massachusetts can only include workers, like waiters, bartenders, and service employees like bussers and food runners. This means that managers, bouncers, cooks, dishwashers, and hostesses cannot legally be a part of these tip pools.
The Sixth Plymouth District includes the town of Duxbury; Precinct 2 of Halifax; Precincts 2 and 3 of Hanson; Precincts 2A and 4 of Marshfield; and Precincts 1, 2, 3A, 4, and 5 of Pembroke.
It’s an open-seat race, since former state representative Josh Cutler (D-Pembroke) became the Undersecretary of Apprenticeship, Work-Based Learning, and Policy for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development in February 2024. The seat has been vacant ever since.
Coletta and Sweezey could not be reached for comment.
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