Sign minimum wage increase immediately
Don’t make our lowest-wage earners wait and wonder any longer. They need and deserve this modest raise.
State legislature closes an ambitious session
After two years of COVID-induced budget cuts, the state legislature took advantage of a rebounding economy and federal relief funding to enact an ambitious agenda.
Working families need help, not gamesmanship
There is no good reason for the House and Senate to be at loggerheads over the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit bills.
Supporters rally to raise minimum wage to $18 as bill advances back to House
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.
Senate, House clash over Hawaiʻi minimum wage bills
The vast majority of those who testified at Monday’s LCA meeting favored the 2026 date for the increase, with 113 testifying in support of the 2026 date and 11 individuals testifying in support of the 2028 date. Five favored a Hawai‘i Chamber of Commerce proposal for $15 an hour by 2027, and 11 favored no increase at all.
Business groups wrong on minimum wage
It is my hope that our elected officials will base their decision-making on the preponderance of evidence regarding the minimum wage, and not the patently false centenarian talking points of the collective of business associations.
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.
Economic recovery should focus on working families
And Hawaiʻi’s lawmakers should pass legislation that supports workers’ well-being.
Dark clouds are looming over Hawaiʻi even as the economy appears to be improving
Economic experts say many people are worse off than they were before the pandemic and a lower unemployment rate is simply masking deeper problems.
Labor leaders urge lawmakers to move minimum wage increase
Teamsters, ILWU and Local 5 leaders ask House Speaker Scott Saiki to schedule a floor vote by Wednesday.
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.
Hypocrisy in Hawaiʻi’s House of Representatives
How can legislators justify giving themselves a raise when they refuse to hold hearings on increasing the minimum wage?
Minimum wage increase needed
Hawaiʻi’s chronically low wages are a disaster bigger then Hurricane ʻIniki or the 2018 Puna lava flow, writes one Hawaiʻi Island resident.
$12 minimum wage hike clears key Senate committees
The bill’s supporters want the minimum wage increased to $17 an hour by 2026—a hike they say is also good for businesses because it boosts consumer spending.
Voters agree—raising the federal minimum wage to $15 is good for everyone
Recent polling confirms that swing district voters overwhelmingly side with workers leading the fight to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Across all demographics, voters confirm that this is a policy that is good for workers and good for their communities.
How the low minimum wage helps rich companies
Low wages benefit employers at the expense of both workers and taxpayers.
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.