WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. – The Massachusetts state minimum wage is $15 an hour, while tipped workers, including bartenders, wait staff and other service employees, receive a state minimum wage of $6.75 an hour.

Approving Question 5, which is what One Fair Wage Massachusetts is advocating for, would require all employers to gradually increase the wages for tipped workers to a $15 an hour pay over the next five years.

"It makes things more consistent. It makes your paychecks more reliable," said One Fair Wage Massachusetts Lead Worker Grace McGovern.  "It makes calling out instances of wage theft or non-compliance easier to track and easier to enforce... eventually. And it also takes the burden off of customers."

But some Massachusetts tipped workers like Mary Ellen Macuen are advocating for people to vote against Question 5 on Tuesday.

Macuen has been working as a server and bartender at The Draught House in West Boylston for eight years.

"I've been doing this business for over 45 years, and I couldn't live off $15 an hour nor could this privately owned restaurant afford to pay me more than that," Macuen said. "Because our payroll would increase by probably 150% to pay all our employees that minimum wage, and we make more money with our customers on our tips."

Macuen said many small businesses would likely have to cut staff and raise prices to make up for the added cost.

"A lot of our customers are elderly. They're over the age of 50," Macuen said.  "And a lot of them are on a fixed-income, and their thing is to go out to eat, go out to lunch, go out to dinner."

Approving Question 5 would also mandate tip pooling.

McGovern is a tipped worker and says it would make pay more equitable through different positions in the industry.

"The restaurant industry employs a lot of marginalized communities," McGovern said. "Seventy percent of the restaurant industry in Massachusetts is women. A majority of that population are women of color."

A "no" vote on Question 5 would make no changes to the state minimum wage for tipped workers.

McGovern said a "yes" on Question 5 may increase food prices. 

She believes the increase will be minimal with the benefit of customers feeling more comfortable tipping as a gratuity, as opposed to feeling obligated to make up for labor expenses.