BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Some Massachusetts officials served in solidarity Wednesday.
Officials said the "Server for an Hour" demonstration let them show their support for a ballot question initiative to raise the state's tipped minimum wage from $6.75 per hour to $15 per hour.
Activists from One Fair Wage and RAISE High Road Restaurants Team organized the event where state officials served food in an office building.
"What's happening now is customers are paying wages," RAISE Northeast leader Betty Marcon said. "They think they're paying tips, but that's not what they're paying."
Read More: Dueling Beacon Hill Protests Over Tipped Minimum Wage
Head of the State Commission on the Status of Women Shaitia Spruell said the issue disproportionately affects women.
According to a new report from One Fair Wage, 70 percent of tipped workers in Massachusetts are women.
Tipped workers who are women earn an average of $7,000 less annually than tipped workers who are men, according to the report.
"We have to be better at supporting our families and our women," Spruell said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@madisonwbz) reports.