WASHINGTON — As the District considers raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour, D.C. Council members heard from residents and business owners who say they’ll be helped and hurt by the move.
During a hearing that lasted more than seven hours, residents such as street cleaning supervisor Darnell Jackson testified to the difference a few dollars an hour would make in his life.
“I have to take money from one check and wait ’til the other check and pay my rent. It has gotten hard, at times, when you have other bills,” he told the Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
The Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act would raise the minimum wage by 2020 and increase it each year in proportion to the Consumer Price Index.
Some small business owners, such as Jeremy Gifford, who owns the bars DC Reynolds and The Pub & The People, testified that his success depends on workers’ tips.
“Everyone works together,” Gifford said. “We split evenly. When it rains, we all suffer; when it’s beautiful, we all prosper.”
Gifford and other small restaurant and pub owners are considering opening other locations, but don’t know whether it’ll be financially possible given the pending change to their payroll.
“Guys like me, small operators, we’ve got to pause and wait and see what you guys are going to do and figure out, ‘Does our model work and can we actually do this,'” he said.
Teddy Folkman, co-owner of multiple restaurants, including Grandville Moores, agreed with Gifford, saying, “with a proposed tip wage increase, it would cut our profits in half.”
“The proposed wage increase will have a negative impact on hospitality and tourism industries in D.C. Please know: This is a job-killer.”
