I’ve been a bartender in Baltimore City since 2023, and I genuinely enjoy working in the restaurant industry. It’s a fast-paced job, demanding at times, but it feels nice to take care of people. However, one thing I don’t enjoy is being paid a subminimum wage. In Maryland, restaurants are allowed to pay tipped workers — servers, bartenders, bussers — as little as $3.63/hour, with customers’ tips expected to make up the majority of their wages. The subminimum wage is even lower — $2.13/hour — at the federal level, where it’s remained frozen since 1991.

This means our wages are constantly going up or down, depending on circumstances entirely out of our control: if it’s raining, if the Orioles are playing, if customers are feeling generous (or stingy) that day. This instability is stressful, now more than ever, when the cost of everything — rent, groceries, BGE bills — keeps going up. What we need is an end to the subminimum wage.

This policy isn’t radical: Seven states already ensure that all workers are paid the normal minimum wage, and Washington, D.C., passed a similar law in 2022. I’ve worked in Alaska, which doesn’t have a subminimum wage for tipped workers, so I can personally attest to how much of a difference this makes. My wages were more stable, even when business was slow, and customers still tipped. When this basic guarantee doesn’t exist, people suffer. The poverty rate for tipped workers is more than double that of other workers, and while many people assume tipped workers are all students or young people working their first job, this isn’t true. The median age of tipped workers is 34, and 30% are parents. Like everyone else, I feel the pressure of rising prices. Now imagine what it’s like for tipped workers trying to raise children or support a family.

This system is bad for tipped workers, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, but it’s also bad for restaurants, which have to deal with high turnover and low morale. The turnover rate for restaurants is notoriously high, averaging about 80% per year since 2013. This means restaurants are forced to constantly hire and train new employees, an expensive and time-consuming process. Unsurprisingly, this is caused primarily by low wages. Any business is going to struggle when turnover is this high, and this leads to a worse experience for customers who have to deal with staffing issues and stressed employees. One of my favorite parts about being a bartender is having regulars, people whom I’m able to forge genuine connections with. This takes time, and it’s not going to happen if workers are always looking to leave for a better opportunity. I left my last bartending job to work somewhere that doesn’t pay a subminimum wage, and it’s a relief to not have to rely almost entirely on tips to pay rent and buy groceries. While this isn’t the norm for tipped workers in Baltimore, it should be.

Ending the subminimum wage for tipped employees would help workers by reducing the instability in our wages, but it would also reduce turnover for restaurants and improve the experience for customers.

There is bipartisan support for helping tipped workers: Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris supported ending taxes on tips in last year’s presidential election, but this would do nothing for the two-thirds of tipped workers who don’t make enough to pay federal income taxes, nor would it help alleviate the week-to-week financial instability which we face. Right now, the Baltimore City Council has a meaningful opportunity to support tipped workers by passing the Fair Wages for Tipped Employees bill. This bill would phase out the subminimum wage in Baltimore by 2030, raising wages for tipped workers and giving restaurants time to adjust to higher labor costs. This is the best solution for the restaurant industry, and for the customers whom we are committed to serving.

Marino Santoro is a bartender in Baltimore.