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 Income Inequality
Hawai‘i’s minimum wage will rise to $12 per hour on Oct. 1, and then will go up by $2 every other year until it reaches $18 per hour on Jan. 1, 2028.
It’s only 60 days long, but Hawaiʻi’s legislative session this year was a monumental affair featuring some self-reform, historic spending and a return to in-person public participation, all largely in the wake of a bribery scandal, a budget deficit and peak coronavirus infections.
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.
With his signature, House Bill 2510 would increase minimum wage, improve major tax credit.
“People should be able to afford their basic needs on 40 hours a week,” said Nate Hix, the director of Living Wage Hawaii, an advocacy group that has been pushing for a higher minimum wage.
Efforts to raise minimum wage and expand major tax credit at risk of falling through.
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.
For too many families living in Hawaiʻi, the answer to, “How’re you doing?” is, “Just hanging on.”
