Election 2024: Ohio could vote on raising the minimum wage; restaurants oppose it

A battle between front-line workers and business owners could land on Ohio's statewide ballot in November if the Raise the Wage Ohio campaign manages to collect 413,000 valid voter signatures by July 5.

So far, backers have collected 350,000 signatures, according to Raise the Wage Ohio spokesperson Mariah Ross. Opposition to raising the minimum wage comes from the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance, which is running a Protect Our Tips campaign.

Raise the Wage Ohio is part of a national campaign run by One Fair Wage that is seeking to boost pay in 15 states. The national campaign is trying to pass ballot issues in Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Arizona this year.

One Fair Wage and the Service Employees International Union are the main backers, contributing $1.8 million in in-kind donations toward the issue in 2023.

What is the Ohio minimum wage?

In 2006, voters approved a constitutional amendment that ties Ohio's minimum wage to inflation.

That means the 2024 state minimum wage for non-tipped workers is $10.45 an hour and for tipped workers it's $5.25 an hour. Full-time at $10.45 an hour works out to be $21,736 per year.

Employers with gross annual revenues of less than $385,000 can pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

What does Raise the Wage want?

The proposed constitutional amendment would bump the wage up to $12.75 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025 and then to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026. After that, annual increases would be tied to inflation.

Tipped workers would earn the full minimum wage starting Jan. 1, 2029, plus whatever they make in tips.

In the interim years of 2025 through 2028, employers would have to gradually increase the minimum wage paid to tipped workers or demonstrate that the workers are making at least the non-tipped minimum wage set that year.

The constitutional amendment would also repeal sections that allow employers to pay sub-minimum wages for workers with disabilities and allows them to pay the lower federal minimum wage to workers under age 16.

Raise the Wage Ohio said that 1.4 million workers would be impacted.

What do opponents say?

The restaurant trade association argues that eliminating the non-tipped wage would hurt small businesses and drive up the cost of eating out.

"No tipped wage in Ohio would result in more closures of restaurants, bars, breweries, food trucks and other hospitality businesses across our state," the alliance says on its website. Ohio is home to 23,000 bars and restaurants that employ 520,000 workers.

Eight in 10 restaurant owners oppose the constitutional amendment, according to a poll conducted in 2023. One in five say they already pay a starting wage of more than $15 an hour.

Nationally, tipped restaurant workers earn on average $27 an hour, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Wait staff at high-end restaurants make more in tips than those who work at lower-cost diners or sandwich shops.

What's next?

Raise the Wage Ohio has been in the field collecting signatures for nearly a year. Once it turns in petitions, boards of elections workers will verify the signatures.

If the campaign collects at least 413,000 by the July deadline, the issue will go on the ballot. Both sides will then mount campaigns to convince voters which way to vote.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.