MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS early Wednesday morning appeared on the verge of giving rideshare drivers the right to unionize, but they rejected by decisive margins ballot questions legalizing psychedelics and increasing the minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers.
Here’s how it shook out on ballot Questions 3, 4, and 5:
Question 3 – Rideshare unionization
A ballot question allowing rideshare drivers to unionize appeared headed for victory Wednesday morning, with the “yes” side leading by a margin of 54 to 46 percent with 88 percent of the vote counted. The Associated Press had not called the race as of 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.
The question would allow rideshare drivers working for Uber and Lyft to form a union and bargain collectively. It comes months after Attorney General Andrea Campbell reached a settlement with Uber and Lyft that guaranteed drivers a guaranteed minimum wage and some other benefits, but left unclear whether they are independent contractors or employees entitled to overtime and other legal protections.
In return for the settlement with the attorney general, Uber and Lyft withdrew a ballot question they had been pushing that would have designated drivers as independent contractors. The two companies also didn’t mount a campaign against the unionization question, although there is a possibility the companies will fight it in court. Critics of the question have said unionization will cause the prices of Uber and Lyft rides to shoot up.
“Tomorrow we’re ready to build a union,” said Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ, the union leading the ballot campaign at the campaign’s election party Tuesday night. “Tomorrow, we’re ready to fight for better wages. Tomorrow, we’re going to fight for better benefits. This is the biggest victory for drivers.”
The campaign’s election party – full of drivers who work for Uber and Lyft – was full of energy throughout the night with impromptu conga lines; people with plates full of churros, tacos, and empanadas; and Latin music playing in the background. The music prompted people to burst into dance, spinning around tables decorated with balloons stamped with a tire motif.
“Once we become a part of the union, we will be able as drivers to have a seat at the table and actually get to negotiate,” said Patrick Ruzibukia, a driver who works for Uber and Lyft.
Proponents of rideshare unionization have argued during the campaign that being able to bargain collectively will allow rideshare drivers to protect their benefits and gain new ones in the future. No organized groups opposed Question 3, though conservative groups have indicated they may be inclined to challenge the law in court for being inconsistent with federal labor guidelines.
Question 4 – Psychedelics
Massachusetts voters may have legalized marijuana by ballot, but they stopped short of decriminalizing psychedelics on Tuesday, rejecting the measure by a 57-43 margin with 88 percent of the votes counted.
Question 4, seeking to decriminalize a suite of psychedelics and set up a new system for psychedelic-assisted therapy, was on unsteady polling ground with 48 percent support heading into the election. The ballot question pitted advocates for a new psychedelic therapy industry against those worried about the negative safety and societal effects of introducing a new potential vice to the state.
In a statement just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday with the no side holding a steady majority of votes, the Yes on 4 campaign conceded defeat.
“We understand there were concerns about the home-grow provisions, and those concerns likely led to tonight’s result,” said a spokesperson for the campaign. “But we have made hugely important strides on this issue of psychedelic therapy, and we will keep fighting to find new pathways for all those who struggle with their mental health.”
Some proponents of the ballot question – including former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Eliza Dushku, who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign – said they have personally experienced the therapeutic effects of psychedelics.
Those supporting the ballot measure argued that decriminalization would allow people to consume psychedelics more safely with guidance from medical professionals, and that access to therapeutic settings for psychedelics would be key to helping people with otherwise untreatable depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health conditions.
Those opposing the psychedelics question have warned about dangers to public health. The head of the state psychiatric society, Nassir Ghaemi, has been speaking out against the ballot question and arguing that the measure could lead to more intoxicated driving incidents and more emergency room visits. There isn’t data that shows a significant uptick in public health or safety incidents in other states where psychedelics have been decriminalized.
The group running the psychedelics ballot campaign had raised $7.3 million and spent $6.4 million leading up to election day, with backing from a national PAC that previously funded the marijuana legalization ballot question in Massachusetts.
Similar psychedelics ballot questions have passed in Oregon and in Colorado. Oregon is well into the process of setting up centers where people can access psychedelics-assisted therapy, but the price tags on the therapeutic experiences have been high.
Question 5 – Tipped Wages
The ballot question in the most precarious position as the campaign season waned – the push to increase the minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers – ultimately fizzled after a sharp turn toward the no side in recent months.
With 88 percent of the vote counted Wednesday morning, the tipped wage ballot question was going down to defeat by a margin of 64-36.
“Despite a hard-fought campaign led by thousands of tipped workers and supporters across Massachusetts, Question 5 narrowly fell short today, a loss attributed to an unprecedented influx of corporate spending and a campaign of misinformation led by the National Restaurant Association, the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, and powerful multinational chain restaurant corporations whose only goal is to keep wages low,” the group pushing the ballot question wrote in a statement after the race was called.
Question 5, which was polling below 50 percent running up to election night, sought to gradually increase the baseline pay for tipped workers to the state minimum wage, which is currently $15, and allow employers to administer a tip pool to distribute the combined tips to tipped and non-tipped workers.
The current system, which requires restaurants to pay their tipped workers $6.75 an hour and use tips to make up the difference if the worker doesn’t reach $15 an hour, has been criticized for leading to uneven pay and the potential for wage theft or sexual harassment. The tipped wage ballot question was supported by a national coalition called One Fair Wage, which spent $652,642 on the campaign.
The Committee to Protect Tips group, consisting mostly of restaurant owners, has raised and spent significantly – $1.6 million in reported expenditures – to maintain the status quo.
The Massachusetts Restaurant Association, the state’s Republican party, and Gov. Maura Healey all weighed in against the question. Several restaurateurs had argued that the change would upend their industry.
If this ballot question had passed, Massachusetts would have joined eight states that require or are on their way to requiring the full minimum wage for tipped workers. Analyses of raising the minimum wage for tipped workers have suggested that tipped workers make measurably more money when their baseline pay is increased and the increase in restaurants’ costs could be as low as 1 percent.
Opponents of the ballot question said it would incentivize customers to no longer tip and that tip-pooling is an unpopular practice that would take tips away from the workers who earned them. The question does not require employers to initiate a tip pool – it simply allows them to.
Following the results of election night, the Committee to Protect Tips celebrated.
“Tipped workers and the restaurant industry have triumphed,” said Nancy Caswell, the campaign treasurer for Massachusetts Restaurants United and owner of the Newburyport restaurant Brine, in a statement. “We keep the power in the hands of individual servers and bartenders who work tirelessly every day to service guests across the Commonwealth to the best of their abilities.”
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