Archive
Columns and news
Columns and news coverage from our campaign since 2018.
These are past columns; numbers reflect the time they were written.
2022
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Don’t let House gut the minimum wage
Asks lawmakers in conference committee to keep the Senate’s faster timeline for raising the minimum wage.
2021
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‘They take the early bus … for us’
Argues that the workers who kept Hawaiʻi running in the pandemic deserve a raise, and pushes back on the business lobby’s case against one.
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Speaker Saiki must join Democrats and stand with, not against, workers
Asks the House to let a minimum wage bill move after three sessions in which raises stalled there.
2020
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Low minimum wage perpetuates systematic racism in Hawaiʻi
Connects low pay to racial gaps in earnings and asks the Senate to bring a wage bill to a vote.
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Essential workers today, with starvation wages tomorrow?
Points out that many workers called essential during COVID-19 still earned too little to cover basic needs.
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Minimum wage hikes have had little long-lasting effect on business
Reports on a state study of the 2014 raises that found few effects on jobs, and on local businesses that kept going.
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Hawaiʻi lawmakers to take pay cut if minimum wage isn’t $15
Reports on two legislators who pledged part of their pay to charity unless the minimum wage reached at least $15.
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Our keiki also need a $17 minimum wage
A high school senior explains why so many friends plan to leave Hawaiʻi, and asks for higher pay so young people can stay.
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It is simply impossible to survive on $21,000 a year
Lays out how far full-time minimum wage pay fell short of Hawaiʻi’s housing and living costs.
2019
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How a living wage would help lots of Hawaiʻi workers
Answers a business lobby claim that few people earn the minimum by counting the many who earn more than it but less than a living wage.
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Hawaiʻi’s economy will benefit from a higher minimum wage
Uses Hawaiʻi’s own record after earlier raises to argue that a higher minimum wage is good for workers and businesses.
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Legislature could quickly raise minimum wage next year
Urges leaders to take up a stalled wage bill early in the 2020 session, since it carried over from 2019.
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Lawmakers lag on minimum wage
Criticizes a House plan that would have let employers who offer health insurance pay a lower minimum wage.
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Businesses can pay workers a living wage and still prosper
A local business owner who started his staff at a living wage says good pay and growth go together.
2018
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Minimum wage hike would mean living wage to meet basic needs
After the 2018 election, explains what a living wage is and why the new Legislature had the votes to pass one.
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Candidates should back a living wage
Asks voters to support candidates who back a living wage, using the campaign’s voter guide.
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Honolulu City Council considering living wage resolution
Shared news of a City Council resolution urging the Legislature to raise the minimum wage, and how to testify on it.
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Hawaiʻi’s low minimum wage hurts everybody
Argues that a low wage floor holds down pay for everyone, even workers with degrees and years of experience.
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Hawaiʻi has the worst minimum wage in the nation
Compared the income needed to buy an average home in each state with Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage, and invited people to a rally at Kapiʻolani Park.
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Hawaiʻi’s low wages thwart King’s goals
Ties Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s later work for economic justice to the push for a living wage in Hawaiʻi.
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Hawaiʻi losing out because of low wage jobs
Makes the business case that a state where full-time pay falls short of the cost of living is running at a loss.
For today’s numbers and their sources, see Data and sources. Press can reach us at info@livingwagehawaii.com.