Advocates for a living wage will be asking our elected officials to deliver on their promises and pass a living wage bill in the 2021 legislative session. But we can’t do it without support from you.
It’s time to Raise Up Hawaiʻi
Every worker deserves a Living Wage.
All tagged Raise Up Hawaii
On Wednesday, Gov. David Ige signed House Bill 2510 into law, putting Hawaiʻi on a path toward the highest minimum wage in the country. As a small business owner, I say: It’s about time. No one can survive on $10.10 an hour—or just $21,000 a year—in Hawaiʻi.
Although, given HB 2510’s nearly six-year phase-in period, other states may reach that mark first, Hawaiʻi nevertheless becomes the first state to officially enact an $18 minimum wage.
Don’t make our lowest-wage earners wait and wonder any longer. They need and deserve this modest raise.
At a Labor for Living Wages rally at the Hawai’i State Capitol on Wednesday, Kona Rep. Jeanne Kapela said current wages cannot begin to satisfy the state’s highest cost-of-living standards in the nation.
Working families and our economy have been suffering for decades with wages that fail to come close to a livable standard. Fortunately both chambers are finally acting like this deficit needs to be closed. We need them to stand by their promises to workers and our economy, and finally push this bill over the finish line and on to the governor’s desk.
This demonstration comes after the state House pivoted away from the original minimum-wage proposal, Senate Bill 2018, that would have incrementally increased the minimum wage to $18 an hour by 2026.
Clearly, the state can improve economic conditions for residents by creating truly affordable housing and raising the minimum wage.
Now more than ever, we see that wage levels in Hawaiʻi need to be raised substantially to improve workers’ living standards and safeguard the public’s health.
But the House of Representatives may seek a slower wage increase after businesses raised concerns with the Senate’s proposal.
