Hawaiʻi Democrats must raise minimum wage
All Hawaiʻi workers should be able to make ends meet with one job, and it’s our legislature’s responsibility to make that a reality.
Minimum wage has stayed at $10.10 for 4 years. With high inflation, will lawmakers make any changes?
The latest state data show a single adult would need to make about $17 to $18 an hour at a full-time job to afford to live in Hawaiʻi.
Hawaiʻi House leaders shelve bills that would help workers
House leaders are resisting union pressure to revive bills this year that would raise the minimum wage and exempt jobless benefits from state income taxes.
House leaders ignored the needs of Hawaiʻi’s workers
They killed bills to raise the state minimum wage and to help the unemployed.
State, city hoodwink the poor, rest of us
“Sickening, just sickening,” writes Joel Fischer, Waiʻalae resident.
House leadership bails out businesses but bails on worker relief
Unemployment insurance benefits should be exempt from Hawaiʻi income tax, but a Senate bill calling for that has unfortunately stalled.
Raising minimum wage is imperative
Raising the minimum wage to a living wage has been a top priority for the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi for years.
Two pay raises for lawmakers over the next year are raising eyebrows
The salary commission approved the wage hikes two years ago but critics now question the optics of government officials getting pay raises during an economic crisis.
‘They take the early bus … for us’
The moral and civic renewal we need requires a radical reframing of the terms of economic debate. Our economic foundations must be centered around people—not markets.
Speaker Saiki must stand with workers
For three straight legislative sessions, 2018–20, Saiki and the Hawaiʻi State House of Representatives have betrayed the Democratic Party’s commitment to a $15+ minimum wage.
Low minimum wage perpetuates systematic racism in Hawaiʻi
One policy clearly perpetuating systematic racism in Hawaiʻi is the state’s oppressively low minimum wage.
Essential workers today, with starvation wages tomorrow?
It is one of the shameful ironies of our time that Hawaiʻi continues to fail to address the injustice that many workers deemed essential do not receive a wage that meets their essential needs.
Minimum wage hike bill advances, but critics say it’s still not enough
A bill to hike Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage is moving to the full house, but critics say it still falls short of what a person needs to live in the 50th state.
Minimum wage bill teed up for House vote
If also approved by the Senate and governor, Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage would rise to $13 an hour by 2024.
How a living wage would help lots of Hawaiʻi workers
More than half of the children in the state have a parent earning below $17 per hour.
Legislature could quickly raise minimum wage next year
A bill that stalled in the last days of the 2019 session carries over to the assembly that convenes in January, giving state lawmakers an opportunity to secure minimum wage legislation early in the 2020 session.
Fight for $15: Lawmakers fail our ʻohana on wages
How much harder for those working minimum-wage jobs in Hawaiʻi, who had every right to expect their elected leaders to address their needs?
Saiki, House leave local workers worse off
Saiki could have written two lines that synthesized his entire commentary: “The Chamber of Commerce, which funds my campaign, didn’t want me to pass a living minimum wage for the people of Hawaiʻi. So I didn’t.”
‘Republicrats’ failed workers by not raising minimum wage
The leadership of the House of Representatives let our workers down: they include Scott Saiki, Mark Nakashima, Della Au Belatti, Dee Morikawa, Tom Brower, Aaron Johanson and Sylvia Luke.
Out of touch lawmakers failed to raise minimum wage
An increase would have shown that Democrats still fight for the interests of working families.