COMMON GOOD COALITION

The People’s Congress ultimately resulted in a dynamic network of partnerships and coalitions. One of the networks to emerge was the Common Good Coalition, a potent partnership between HAPA, Sierra Club, and Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice. The Common Good Coalition has rallied dozens of organizations to participate in regular strategy meetings throughout the 2017, 2018 and 2019 legislative sessions. We find opportunities for solidarity across a range of social, environmental and economic-justice issues. We examine how we can work together to address change on a systemic level.

 Policy issues have included affordable housing, climate justice, criminal-justice reform, paid family leave, mitigating houselessness, graduate students’ unionization, minimum wage, pesticide regulation, education, kupuna care, LGBT equality, single-payer health care, tax fairness, food & water security, bail reform, clean energy, oxybenzone (sunscreen) ban, and campaign-finance reform.

HAWAIʻI WORKERS ASSOCIATION

Spearheaded by Hawaiʻi Workers Center this association is for workers who are interested in building collective power, we want to build workers associations – a group that meets, plans, discusses actions and campaigns, and fights for better working conditions. For example, a workers association can be made up of people in a particular workplace who are interested in increasing their wages, fighting wage theft like unpaid overtime, or even for policies that value human dignity.

In our outreach, we have found cases of:

  • Wage Theft (receiving below minimum wage, unpaid hours, or unpaid overtime)

  • Disrespect (being yelled at by supervisor, food thrown away, etc)

  • Low Wages (the minimum wage is not a living wage in Hawaiʻi)

  • Lack of access to UI benefits

  • Loss of hours, benefits

  • Dangerous working conditions (hot oil with no safety equipment, etc)

Together, we can fight for change. Contact us if you and your colleagues are interested in organizing your workplace.

PROTECT OUR KEIKI COALITION / PAID LEAVE HI COALITION

Teachers, healthcare workers, scientists and others came together as the "Protect Our Keiki Coalition." Here, they really at the Capitol in 2018 to support pesticide regulation.

This broad-coalition approach resulted in the unprecedented partnership of such diverse groups as the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Children’s Action Network, Appleseed, Imua Alliance, the Sierra Club and others -- a partnership which ultimately ushered our pesticide regulation bill into law.

RAISE UP HAWAIʻI COALITION

Raise Up Hawaiʻi Coalition is lead by Raise Up Hawaiʻi - Last year, we achieved a historic victory. After years of championing a living wage for Hawai’i’s workers, we partnered with legislators to raise our state’s minimum wage to $18/hour by 2028, the highest state-level minimum wage rate in the nation. 

But workers and their families are still struggling. That's why we need to keep up the momentum to push for added pro-worker policies. Read more here.

CLEAN ELECTIONS HAWAIʻI

TELL OUR POLITICIANS:

STAND WITH US,

NOT BIG MONEY

TAKE THE "OUR HAWAIʻI PLEDGE" NOW.

WHICH CANDIDATES HAVE PLEDGED TO STAND WITH THE LOCAL PEOPLE?

It’s time to end the stranglehold that luxury developers, out-of-state investors, Big Tourism, military contractors, and other big money interests have on our politics. That’s why we’re introducing The Our Hawaiʻi Pledge: it’s time to demand politicians reject big money from those who sell out our islands, and stand with those who live to protect it.

When a politician takes The Our Hawaiʻi Pledge, it’s  a commitment from them  to not be bought out, and to back common-sense policies that will free us from our rigged economy.

The Our Hawaiʻi Pledge, is the people’s way of knowing that a politician stands with the people of Hawai’i, not corporate special interests holding back progress in our islands.

When our representatives finally represent us, not big money, that’s when we’ll have a shot of preserving our way of life on these islands and building a better future for generations to come.

By asking candidates in public if they will reject corporate and lobbyist bribes and back common sense solutions to protect our way of life, we will find out who actually stands with the people...and who is just talk.

HAWAIʻI TAX FAIRNESS COALITION

The Hawaiʻi Tax Fairness coalition believes in caring for our families and in leaving things better for our keiki. Investing resources into our schools, hospitals, parks, and programs for working families is how we build a better future for them.

To do that, the state needs tax revenue. We believe the state should collect this revenue from those who can afford to pay more—wealthy taxpayers who have been doing better than ever in recent years thanks, in part, to tax policies that favor the rich.

These policies exacerbate wealth inequality, trap resources at the top where they do no good for the overall economy, and reinforce racial barriers to economic opportunity for people of color.

With your help, we can make our tax code more fair and just while helping the state to better fund our collective future.