Without a living wage we have no future
Young people are continually told that we are the future, but we have no future here if the minimum wage doesn’t go up to $17 and also keep up with inflation in the coming years.
A living wage will help Native Hawaiians
A 2016 statewide poll revealed that above 70 percent of Native Hawaiians live paycheck to paycheck. A third say they struggle to pay for food. This cannot continue.
Working students would appreciate minimum-wage increase
As a young adult responsible for her living expenses in the most expensive state of the U.S., I know first-hand the challenges of barely getting by despite living very frugally.
Failure to enact a living wage will hurt businesses
As businesspeople we invite others to join us in doing the right thing and stop opposing giving workers what is their due: a just living wage. As lawmakers, we can do right by working families. If we have the will.
A living wage supports mental health
Mental health is not just the absence of mental illness but also living without the toxic levels of stress caused by factors such as poverty, abuse and unpaid family caregiving.
Hawaiʻi needs higher minimum wage
I’ve spent 45 years in corporate America with operations in Hawaiʻi, and it’s mind-boggling to me that employers in Hawaiʻi put up resistance to increasing the minimum wage.
Local connection: raising Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage
$15 an hour is not a living wage. It is the minimum for someone just hoping to live with dignity and independence.
Guarantee of living wage would help our communities thrive
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is clear: $21,000 a year—that’s what full-time, minimum-wage workers make at $10.10 an hour—simply does not allow them to meet basic needs in high-cost Hawaiʻi. It is by no stretch of the imagination a living wage.
Here’s what a living wage actually means in Hawaiʻi
The term is designed to show the minimum someone needs to earn to support themselves and their family if they’re working full time.
Workers need $17 minimum wage
Providing a $17 minimum living wage will help to restore the dignity for those who want to work hard and take care of their own.
Democrats should show bona fides
Will the progressive Democratic platform translate into concrete policies that improve the lives of struggling families in Hawaiʻi? That is the question members of the Raise Up Hawaiʻi coalition are asking.
Inspired by hotel workers, it's time to fight for a living wage
It took the members of UNITE HERE! Local 5, 51 days to improve living conditions for themselves, their families—and by extension—all other hotel workers. There are 60 days in the upcoming legislative session that begins on January 16. Are the rest of us willing to make that same commitment to raising up all of Hawaiʻi?
Hawaiʻi’s low minimum wage hurts everybody
We are all worse off because of the widespread worker exploitation, leaving us unable to afford to even live here.
Hawaiʻi’s low wages thwart King’s goals
Hawaiʻi showed support for Dr. King’s desegregation efforts. Unfortunately, Hawaiʻi has not supported his fight for economic justice.
Hawaiʻi losing out because of low wage jobs
Having our workers available at a discount is a losing business strategy for the state and our residents, costing us billions each year.