As Election Day draws closer, scores of restaurateurs and servers from within and outside Boston’s popular dining destination, the North End, fear patrons could soon no longer want to tip.

“It’s basically how I survive and raise my family,” said Kerri Spagnoli, a bartender at Lucia’s in Winchester. “It’s my main source of income. … If it passes, I will definitely have to change my career.”

When Massachusetts voters head to the polls on Nov. 5, they will decide the fate of Question 5, a ballot measure that would gradually increase the wage of tipped employees until it meets the state minimum wage in 2029.

The measure, sponsored by the national advocacy group One Fair Wage, would continue to permit tipping in addition to the minimum wage.

Spagnoli, a single mother who has worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years, joined more than a dozen restaurateurs and servers at a rally in the North End on Thursday. Their message: They’d much rather see the current pay system remain in place.

If approved, tipped employees would be paid the state minimum wage of $15 rather than the $6.75 they make now, in addition to tips.

“That’s going to fundamentally change the way full-service restaurants operate,” said Stephen Clark, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. “It’s going to take the earnings and money out of servers’ pockets. It’s going to cost more money for operators to run their restaurants, and ultimately, consumers will pay for it.”

The Massachusetts Restaurant Association is behind the Committee to Protect Tips, a coalition registered in opposition to Question 5 that has reported over $1.5 million in contributions, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

One Fair Wage Plus Tips MA Committee has reported $990,936.53 in contributions in support of the measure.

Based on a survey of 351 servers, bartenders, and other tipped staff conducted last February, Carnegie Mellon University found that 86% of respondents said the current tipping system works well for them. Roughly 89% said they earn at least $20 per hour and 56% reported taking in more than $30 an hour.

Ashley Leone, a server at Artu in the North End, called the question a “bad idea” as her 3-year-old son James ran up to her at the podium during Thursday’s rally.

“We rely heavily on tips,” Leone said. “It will change the whole service industry. A lot of people will not give you the right service that you look for when you’re going out.”

Seven states have implemented one fair wage policies: Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, California, Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

The Political Economy Research Institute at UMass Amherst released a report on Thursday highlighting “potential impacts” if Question 5 passes in the Bay State. One Fair Wage said the study “directly challenges the misinformation spread by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and other opponents.”

Tipped workers in states without a subminimum wage earn 10-20% more than those in states with a lower-trier wage system, like Massachusetts, the report states. Restaurants also face “only modest cost increases” of about 2%, it found.

Several hundred restaurants in Massachusetts are already paying the full minimum wage, according to research One Fair Wage conducted on Indeed, the group’s president Saru Jayaraman told the Herald.

“In Massachusetts, 99% of the people we collected signatures from didn’t even know that workers get a subminimum wage,” she said. “That means when workers do get a minimum wage, they’re not going to change their tipping practices.”

“No customer cares how much people make before they decide how much to tip,” she added. “It’s not the basis for tipping.”

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a Democrat whose district includes the North End, highlighted how implementation elsewhere hasn’t necessarily been a success.

According to the Carnegie Mellon report: “After Washington, D.C. began phasing out a tip credit, hundreds of restaurant owners were forced to impose a mandatory service charge on customer checks to account for rising costs.”

Over the past few weeks, servers and restaurateurs have made it “very clear” that Question 5 should not go forward, Michlewitz said.

“This was not driven by restaurant workers,” he said. “Restaurant workers I talk to do not want this. They work hard for their tips. They hustle. … The hustle is important to them. It’s about making sure we are protecting them in this industry.”

North End restaurateurs and tipped workers call for a no vote on the ballot question 5 . (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz speaks as North End restaurateurs and tipped workers call for a no vote on the ballot question 5 . (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)