The Time has Come
Your Union, Your Future
Bartenders Union Local 165 has an election every 3 years, whether we want one or not. Federal law prohibits elected officials of Local Unions from serving more than 3 years unless reelected. Yet, if no eligible members challenge the incumbent officers, as is often the case, career politicians remain in office. The time has come to elect new officers of the Bartenders Union Local 165 on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. If voter participation in this election is around 10-12%, as it has historically been, disconnected minority leaders will likely govern, and the result will almost certainly be more of the same. What happens next is up to the members.
Unions exist to protect working people and improve their compensation and working conditions. The question that should be on the minds of the members is whether the path our union is on has served those interests well or, alternatively, whether the leadership has taken a series of wrong turns. In short, members should ask themselves: Are we on the right track? If not, how do we get back on track?
What would good union government look like? A union driven by members means that members shape, influence, and direct the pursuit of policies that are likely to produce intended outcomes. However, accountability of the union’s government requires transparency and oversight. Elections are very important, but the day after the election, the real work begins with members in the driver’s seat to govern through committees and membership meetings. What we’ve seen for many years may be described as passive membership, in that participation in elections and membership meetings is minimal. To energize the union and increase participation in its affairs, responsive leadership listens to concerns and does not obstruct democratic reform. If elected, we will regularly check the pulse of the membership and work to engage members to set the course of action.
The heart of the matter. Got the Payday Blues? What’s Eating Your Paycheck?
Hourly Tip Allocations & Tax Withholdings
Hourly tip allocations are so high that for many, take-home pay won’t even take them home. Except for a temporary tax holiday during the pandemic, IRS negotiations haven’t yielded relief[1]. Is there a chance that Congress is willing to provide the sort of tax relief that tipped employees need? We won’t know if we don’t try, and if elected, we want a legislative action committee to set the agenda. We would place Tip allocations in the top ten issues, like repealing Nevada’s Right to Work law for free riders.
Bargaining Priorities
Solvency of the Health and Welfare Fund
We can all agree that Health insurance is important, but the economic reality is that pay and necessary benefit increases in our contracts will never be unlimited. Even if that were so, an examination of where most of the negotiated increases are directed is needed. Obviously, the biggest piece of that pie is consumed by employers' runaway hourly contribution rates paid to the Health and Welfare fund. That expense eclipses pension contributions and our pay raises, leaving us poorer. According to the Culinary Health Fund, the hourly contribution rate has reached or will soon reach $6.92 per hour[2]. On our current course, we arguably risk pricing ourselves out of the industry or downsizing (significant layoffs with little chance of recall). Rising Labor costs may also incentivize employers to replace us with technology. Given inflationary Healthcare costs and Congressional inaction, there may be no end in sight to ever-increasing hourly rates, which probably means we are racing to an apocalypse of our own creation.
Two-Tiered Pay Raise System if Benefit Contributions Permit
Historically, we negotiated contracts with specific dollar sums directed to benefit funds as well as specific pay raises for each year of our contracts. Under that system, our pay raises were predetermined. In more recent years, the leadership changed that approach to what D. Taylor called a 'bucket of money' (total increases expressed as a specific dollar amount paid by employers per hour per employee per year). Simply put, the bucket of money approach means pay raises, if any, are uncertain and secondary to increasing hourly benefit contribution rates. For example, on October 1st, we received pay raises based on what was left after hourly Health and Welfare, and the Pension contribution rates were determined.
Despite uncertainty as to whether and how much of a pay raise is coming your way, what is certain is the different treatment of tipped vs. non-tipped classifications[3]. If that continues, so does income inequality, with non-tipped classifications earning more than tipped classifications.
We realize this is a lot to think about, and we hope to address many more kitchen-table issues if the members participate in the process.
Thank you for your support. Please Vote.
[1] While it is true that Married people filing joint tax returns may now qualify for a deduction of up to $25,000 at the end of the year, that doesn’t mean their paychecks won’t be consumed by the taxes withheld on payday.
[2] Remember, Part-Time employees multiply that amount by the number of hours you are short if you work less than 240 hours in each two-month period for self-payment. Culinary Health Fund reports employer contributions to the fund were nearly $1.3 billion ($1,291,002,792), whereas employee contributions were nearly $29 million ($28,885,494) for the period April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024.
[3] According to literature distributed by the union, the total raises over our current 5-year contracts are: $5.30 for non-tipped classifications vs. $2.60 for tipped classifications. The 2025 annual raise breaks down to $1.00 for non-tipped classifications vs. 46 cents for tipped classifications.