Do you support a proposal to increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019?
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B. No (819 Votes)
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A. Yes (679 Votes)
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C. Undecided (89 Votes)
This is not a scientific poll — results reflect only the opinions of those voting.
37 responses to “Do you support a proposal to increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019?”
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The problem with raising the minimum wage, everything will cost more.
Indeed; the minimum wage is not meant to be a living wage.
the liberals want to increase the minimum wage to make that the new middle class. the minimum wage is an entry level wage to learn job skills or help through college. jobs will be lost through automation.
aloha!
Reminds me of my college days when I was the “general” in charge of cleaning the gym, including the toilet bowls and urinals at a $1 an hour back in the mid 50’s. Humbling as it was it motivated a change to a yard-boy and then an antennae installer on contract basis at $5 each. Together with another student found a job with an TV appliance store installing the “Yagi” antenna around the farming community using their truck, supplies and equipment. We improved our prowess where we could erect/install a simple antenna in 45 minutes. Everyone should have the opportunity to have such an experience.
I hear you. Coming out of the military with no skills, you got to start from the bottom. Similar to you, worked cleaning bathrooms thru college. Kept me alive! Later in life it was a good work ethic and not afraid of the dirty work that got me through.
Coming out of the military with no skills? Uhhh, totally not true unless you were 4F. You learned many job important/related skills but perhaps you failed to apply them.
You do know what I am talking about right?
localguy, the main thing I learned was self discipline and the ability to listen. We didn’t go to a school after boot camp. We got assigned to a duty station and did the dirty work. 4F guys didn’t come in. And no, I don’t know what you talking about!
Having a combat arms MOS, after the Vietnam War, did not get you qualified, for any civilian job.
Having a high school diploma, a military honorable discharge, and going to college, only qualified you to be a head dishwasher or nightclub bouncer.
I don’t see too many job opportunities, for the warrior class of the military, transitioning back into the civilian world.
In the 1970s, the civilian job market in Hawaii, chased local boys coming out of the military, to the mainland.
I worked fast food all through high school and was responsible for emptying the garbage, sweeping and mopping floors and cleaning the restrooms. I learned to work hard and not be afraid of getting dirty; it helped develop my work ethic. I couldn’t afford college, so I joined the military, worked hard, made rank and got my education. Minimum wage is not meant to be a “living wage,” it’s for entry level jobs which are usually/generally meant to be temporary as workers improve and learn skills for higher paying jobs.
Minimum wage is not meant to be a living wage…….if the government wants to raise to cost of living in Hawaii by inflating the minimum wage, it will just cause businesses to replace people with machines and force others to go out of business because they can’t make a profit…….unemployment rates will rise dramatically which inturn will raise homeless rates. Raise of the minimum wage will be the govt shooting itself in the foot.
IRT NorthShoreGuy, you are exactly right. It’s the government wanting to screw the people by raising inflation and the cost of living. Increasing the starting base minimum wage for the untrained beginning worker does exactly what the Liberal Democrats want, to stick it to the entire population by increasing the cost of living. Auwe.
Should be 2017. By 2019 should be $20.
In states where this has been implemented already, it’s clear that private sector employees do what they must to maintain their businesses. That means laying off employees and making others do more. Or automating. Or shut down all together. Is it any wonder why these schemes simply don’t work? In the end, you hurt the very people you THINK you are going to help. Liberalism is a mental disorder. They simply cannot learn from their mistakes, even when it happens right in front of their faces. Hawaii runs on a service economy with most employed in the tourism industry. Jack the minimum wage to $15 or more and see what happens to our economy and tourism industry. Good luck with that.
This website shows the carnage behind the false “Fight for $15” movement. As mentioned, business owners have to cut costs, lay off employees, meaning fewer jobs.
Automation is increasing in every business sector, further reducing jobs.
http://www.facesof15.com/
GREAT WEBSITE…..EVERY POLITICIAN SHOULD HAVE TO VIEW IT.
irt awahana,
can you imagine trying to open a new business with a minimum wage of $15.00 now if you have 2 employees that’s $30.00 per hour + workmans comp, insurance, lease rents, advertising etc. etc. etc. The reality is most will not make year 1 and will fail. A Minimum wage is just that a minimum and you should earn your raises with productivity.
If the lowest employee has a mandated minimum wage then the next person with more responsibility will demand more. You cannot raise the minimum wage for one without it affecting all. How happy and motivated will a worker be if he has more responsibilities and is making the same as your entry worker. Fast food restaurants are already looking at kiosks instead of having human interaction. Kiosks always show up for work, are never late, do it’s job, do not take breaks or lunch and are never sick.
So true! You raise the minimum and everything goes up, then the minimum is not enough.
I’m all for people making more however increasing this will only make everything else in Hawaii go up, up, up.
Minimum wage is for starting jobs, flipping burgers, etc.
Get an education, learn a trade and improve your pay and DO SOMETHING for yourself. Sorry this takes some WORK on your part.
For every election since 1992 I have worked as a precinct elections official, handing out ballots or helping voters who have problems. I am required to work in the polling place from 5:30 AM to 7:00 PM with no “lunch hour” and only short bathroom breaks as needed. That’s 13 and a half hours. At minimum wage of $9.25, my pay should be $125. But actually they pay us only $85. And no pay at all for the mandatory training program of 1-2 hours.
I would work for free because I see it as my citizenship responsibility to give public service for the most fundamental function of a democracy, which is voting. But I deeply resent the hypocrisy of our state government which forces private-sector employers to pay minimum wage to unskilled laborers but then refuses to pay minimum wage to its own employees.
I’ve raised this issue casually and nicely with a few of the elections bureaucrats, but their reply was “Oh this isn’t wages, it’s merely an honorarium for the volunteers.” Hahaha. Let a private sector employer tell that to the wage-and-hour police and see how fast they get sued by the government and/or the HGEA union honchos.
Our own state government refuses to pay the minimum wage which it forces all private employers to pay. So where’s this newspaper’s editorial denouncing the hypocrisy?
Karl Rhodes is a dangerous politician who lacks a proper economics education. If indeed he had attempted to study economics, he either failed to grasp it or has a hidden agenda. Several businesses have placed a temporary hold on hiring pending the outcome of this bill. Should it pass. we will see an increase of unemployment for the most remedial jobs in the service industry and fewer jobs for students. Possibly Mr. Allie will loose his pizza job and it will become self service.
Does not anyone see how out of control money management at our State by the Democrats who control the State and the legislature, hook line and sinker?
The Governor already requested tax increase on fuel (gasoline); tax increase on vehicle weight tax. The City and country which has always been run by Democrats, its Mayor Caldwell who makes $200,000 on the side, earlier had proposed a tax increase on fuel (gasoline)and Tax increase in the vehicle weight tax. Put these two Democrats proposal, you’ll be whopping fee when your annual vehicle weight tax comes along.
The mayor also proposed to increase the parking meter by 100 percent.
Now the Tax-addicted Democrats wants to approve a $15.00 minimum wage on its citizen.
Oh I forgot…Ige proposed gasoline tax increase from 16 cents to 23 cents a gallon. But the Democrat State Senator Lorriane Inouye want to up the ante to 26 cents a gallon.
Folks do you see – The General election is over….its not an election year. The greedy Democrats are picking our pocket book again.
Sometime I really wonder if their doing all this tax increase because of their State pension fund has a shortage of 4 billion dollars. You say what does it has to do with their tax increases? You never know these greedy Democrats will use some of their increase Tax increase to fund their State pension fund shortage…just a thought on this.
Hawaii folks – We got screwed again!!!. Good for you for voting these Demos in office again…!!
Check out the carnage behind the false “Fight for $15” movement. Areas they do not want you to know about.
http://www.facesof15.com/
In 2015 the minimum wage went from $7.25 to $7.75. By moving to $15.00 in 2019 the entry -level worker’s productivity should rise by 107% in order to justify the increase.
Or…a business is then justified by reducing the payroll by 52%.
In other words, halving the number of employees and increasing the UIC burden on all of the other working people.
WOW!! Very impressed that all the comments so far, except one, shows a lot of common sense and understanding of basic economics! Minimum wage is meant to be a trainee wage for teens to learn about working in the real world. Not meant to be a “livable” wage. Significantly increase this minimum wage and those jobs get eliminated pretty fast.
Been reading up on employer services offered in the Philippines so…do want ya want, our company will react accordingly.
Basic principles of supply and demand. If I can hire someone to provide the same service for less … why would/should/must I pay more?
Liked and agree with most comments here. With a high minimum wage, small businesses will be forced to close. The rail construction has put many out of business already. Then as others said, we can expect cost of living to go higher. Politicians here need to take a basic economics class.
Can you explain how rail is putting people out of business?
Also what small business closed because of the rail.
In relation to the minimum wage issue, I also wonder if it should not be a priority to establish something like a maximum income, for example, as a measure to address the ever-widening gap between the ultra rich and the non-ultra rich? Maybe this would entail a progressive tax rate/forced charity/forced research?
The ultra rich account for an increasingly higher percentage of the entire population’s asset wealth, if a maximum income or the like is not embraced, we may end up with a nation of a tiny population of the ultra rich and masses of slaves.
The discrepancy between lifestyles here in paradise is simply grotesque. All levels of wealth exist and are located within a short-distance of each other. I pass dozens of homeless living on the sidewalk when I walk my son to school, and I pass dozens of multi-million dollar homes when I jog through neighborhoods, where there is not a homeless person in sight.
The other side of the minimum wage coin exists. Why is it not given more attention?
Maybe the rich have enough power to stop a maximum earnings law
In Hawaii it’s are real dilemma. Increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs for entry level employees such as students. On the other hand, the cost of living is very high in Hawaii. I believe it is better to maintain entry level jobs where wages are determined by the marketplace, and provide assistance to families who need additional support.
One group that would be happy with a minimum wage increase is retirees that are working just to keep busy and really don’t need the money as they are already getting one, two, three or more pensions and possibily making six figures a year.
A note, public sector Unions need a higher minimum wage for their member wages are based on that minimum during collective bargaining. Private sector Unions want the lowest minimum wage, where it will show greatest separation between the non-Union and Union worker, making it easier to organize the non-Union employer.
Too great a min can hurt the economy. The best figure for the min is 1/2 the median wage.
I would rather support the legislature’s efforts to raise the median wage from $40K to $60K.
IRT Wiliki, $60K? That’s $24.00/hr plus burden of $14.50/hr equals $38.50/hr per 1st day hire employees.
Only ignoramus’s’s’s want to raise the minimum wage, because they think the wage is supposed to be able to support their livelihoods. Talk about having a low ceiling, these people. Wake up! It’s meant for those still in school, to supplement income, to acquire skills, to keep busy, etc. GET IT?!?!?!