I am embarrassed that it was a letter from a Pennsylvania resident that took the Legislature to task with her disappointment over the failure to increase the minimum wage (“Fight for $15: Lawmakers fail our ohana on wages,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 5). We ought to be ashamed that we are letting this issue quietly fade away.

It failed because business interests lobbied against it. I’m sorry, but if you have a job that isn’t important enough to pay the worker enough for a minimum humane existence, then it’s a job society can do without. The other big lobbying interest, unions, didn’t really care because they had already gotten much more for their members.

So, who is supposed to look after the interests of those on the bottom rung of the ladder? I thought the conscience of the Legislature would be a firewall, but I guess not. And we wonder why we can’t make a dent in homelessness. We can do better.

Richard Manetta

Wilhelmina Rise

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