I was disappointed to read the front-page news July 8 that “Portland’s higher minimum wage comes with (an) unforeseen hitch.”

It was not unforeseen that the new ordinance, like the much stronger “Ordinance Toward a Living Wage,” on which Portlanders will vote in November, includes new wage protections for tipped workers.

I think everyone on the public’s side of the room at the July 6 meeting where city councilors voted to raise the city minimum wage understood how the ordinance was going to work.

I’m disappointed with our City Council, not only because they failed to understand their own ordinance after having it explained to them by their corporation counsel, but also because they apparently intended to exclude tipped workers from the protections they decided to give everyone else.

It is absolutely necessary that Portland’s minimum-wage ordinance apply to tipped employees because they, like so many other working-class people, are being priced out of Portland.

Minimum-wage laws are not for the benefit of people with lucrative careers. They’re for the protection of people, including many wait-staff and hospitality workers, who would otherwise be pushed into poverty by market forces outside their control.

I’m running for City Council in District 2 this November. I’ve seen legislative and deliberative groups get hung up on technicalities before. It can be prevented by having representatives who understand the rules, read the proposals and think analytically about the problems at hand.

Hopefully we can all move forward, with a clear understanding, toward a living wage for Portland.

Mako Bates

Portland

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