Restaurant Workers’ Battle for Higher Minimum Wage Goes National

US restaurants grappling with high costs and penny-pinching consumers are making a tough pitch to voters: that boosting base pay to millions of workers is a bad idea.

At least four states are set to vote on measures to make restaurants pay servers a minimum wage regardless of how much they earn in tips. It’s a contentious move that business owners say will raise menu prices and kill jobs, Michelle Korsmo, chief executive officer of the National Restaurant Association, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Chicago.

Worker groups have some momentum, though. Chicago last year approved ...