What A Day - Fighting For A Living Wage In Hawai'i

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Today, workers in Hawai’i are rallying at their State Capitol to raise the state’s minimum wage for the first time since 2018. Christy MacPherson, the Lead Community Developer at the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, joins us to discuss how workers are being affected by low wages in the highest cost-of-living state in the nation.Russia and Ukraine engaged in their third round of talks on Monday, which once again ended without any major progress. The United Nations reported that at least 1.7 million Ukrainians are now refugees, half of whom are children, and tens of thousands of people who are still in Ukraine lack power, heat, water, medicine, and food.And in headlines: The Supreme Court said it will not review the decision that freed Bill Cosby from prison, the Pentagon announced that the US Navy will permanently close its Red Hill fuel storage facility in Hawai’i, and Lady Gaga announced the new tour schedule for her Chromatica Ball tour.Show Notes:Raise Up Hawai’i: https://www.raiseuphawaii.org/Hawai’i’s State Legislature: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

it's tuesday march 8th i'm trevelle anderson and i'm josie duffy rice and this is what a day the podcast that had to scrap our pete davidson claymation video concept when we learned connie west did it first okay but ours is better so it's less violent ours is like pretty p Davidson supportive, you know. On today's show, the Supreme Court won't reinstate the conviction of Bill Cosby, plus the fight for a higher minimum wage in Hawaii, where the cost of living is the highest in the country. But first, a quick update on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday, the two countries engaged in their third rounds of talks, which once again ended without any

major progress, though a Ukrainian official did say that there were, quote, small positive shifts regarding logistics of humanitarian corridors. Those are the safe passageways for Ukrainians who want to leave cities like Kyiv or Kharkiv or who want to leave the country altogether. And it's a small but good sign since those corridors had become increasingly risky after the failure of a number of ceasefires that were negotiated to allow safe passage to civilians. Still, the talks did not result in the ultimate goal of ending the Russian invasion altogether. So Josie, talk to us about what Russia is actually asking for during these talks. Yeah. So yesterday, a Russian official laid out their extreme demands for ending the invasion.

So the demands include that Ukraine stop its military activity, change its constitution so that they are prevented from joining both EU and NATO, and recognize Crimea as part of Russia. So just some small casual asks from the Russian government. They also want Ukraine to declare two separatist areas of Ukraine as independent. Russia has also offered other tangential, some might say solutions, I would not say that, many of which are unreasonable to say the least. For example, yesterday, Russia presented their own evacuation plan for Ukrainians, suggesting that they could leave the country safely by just going into Russia or into Belarus, a Russian ally. Which does not seem to be a wise decision. But what do I know? I just feel like if a country is invading my country and I want to leave, I don't want to go to the country invading my country.

Maybe not. Are there any other major updates about the experiences of Ukrainian residents on the ground right now? Yeah, Trebel. And as you can imagine, it's getting increasingly more terrifying for people in Ukraine. So Russian shelling has become, quote, increasingly indiscriminate, according to the New York Times. This has put regular civilians at serious risk of being harmed or killed. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people lack power, heat, water, medicine, and food, making the situation more dire by the day. Many residents have reportedly not had anything to eat or drink in days. And meanwhile, the United Nations reported that at least 1.7 million Ukrainians are now refugees. Half of those are children.

Wow. Now, what about the response from the United States and other allied countries? Any updates there? Yeah. So first, it looks like sanctions against Russia will get even more harsh in the near future. On Monday, Congress moved forward on a bipartisan effort to suspend trade with Russia. They also want to ban U.S. purchases of Russian oil, and that would have a major effect on the Russian economy, of course, but it would also have major impacts stateside. Even the suggestion of such a move sent oil prices skyrocketing yesterday to over $119 a barrel, which is the highest price in 14 years. Average gas prices are now over $4 a gallon in the United

States. Which no one likes paying more for gas, especially those of us who already had our gas over $4 a gallon, which means it's going up. Yeah. But now we want to focus on the story of one Americaniner was arrested in Russia after customs officials say they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. Griner, for the sports challenged out there, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and seven-time WNBA all-star with the Phoenix Mercury basketball team. The announcement of Greiner's detainment came as the U.S. State Department updated an advisory on Saturday instructing U.S. citizens in Russia to leave the country immediately. The announcement cited the, quote, potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials. It's currently unclear how long Greiner has been detained in Russia, but according to their customs service, the search of her belongings happened in February, raising the possibility that she's been in custody for a

week. Griner is facing potential drug charges, which can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison in Russia. Again, she had some vape cartridges and politicians have noted that Russia has a history of detaining U.S. citizens on trumped up charges. Yeah, it's a very outrageous situation. And I have some questions about Russia's accusations. I would not take them at face value. That's all I'm going to say. So I think some of our listeners are probably wondering what was a star athlete for the WNBA even doing in Russia,

especially during such a tense period. So can you tell us a little more about that? Yeah, so many WNBA players play for foreign teams during the offseason, because when compared to their NBA counterparts, they're making significantly less. And according to the New York Times, the bulk of income for many WNBA players is not actually earned in the league. Now, many people have noted how Russia's anti-LGBTQ stance might be further impacting Greiner's detainment because she's gay and have suggested that she could become a negotiation point as the U.S. continues to support Ukraine against Russia's invasion. Her wife, Sherelle, shared a message on Instagram Monday saying, quote, My heart, our hearts are all skipping beats every day that goes

by. There are no words to express this pain. We await the day to love on you as a family. Just devastating. So moving to some domestic news today, workers in Hawaii are rallying at their state capital to raise the state's minimum wage for the first time since 2018. Currently, Hawaii's minimum wage is $10.10 an hour, meaning that someone working full-time can make as little as $21,000 a year. That's already pretty low by most standards, but it's especially low when you take into account that Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the nation. According to state officials, it takes almost $40,000 a year for a single childless adult to live comfortably. For a family of four with two adults, that number goes up to over $90,000. Yes, the math is not mathing, but there has been

some progress towards raising Hawaii's minimum wage this year in the state legislature. Though many living wage advocates say it isn't fast enough to address workers who are in need right now. To learn more about Hawaii's need for a higher minimum wage and what organizers are doing on the ground, we have with us Christy McPherson. She is the lead community developer at the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. Her organization is part of the Raise Up Hawaii campaign, which organized today's rally. Christy, welcome to What A Day. Thank you. Aloha, everyone. So let's start by giving listeners who aren't familiar with Hawaii some context. In the broader

movement to raise the national minimum wage, the number we normally hear as a goal is $15 per hour, but living wage advocates in Hawaii are pushing for $18 an hour by 2026. So why is the number 18 and not some other number? Prior to the start of this legislative session, we were going by the figure that was given for the self-sufficiency standard by the Department of Business and Economic Development and Tourism. And they determined that it was close to $18 in 2021. It's even higher now. It's above $19. So we're way behind. Even with $18 by 2026 or 2028, we're still going to be behind the mark.

So we're going to try and push for as much as we can in the coming weeks because our workers, they're really in need of this increase big time. Do you feel like the number needs to be higher than 18? Well, we would all like the number to be higher. I mean, we all know that it takes about $30 an hour for someone to really survive and thrive here in Hawaii. And so $18 is definitely not what we would consider a fair wage. But when you're working on advocacy and legislation, you have to be wise about what you're trying to ask for. So asking for $30 will probably get us nowhere at this point.

Right, right. No, yeah, It's a process, of course. Yes. Now, you are in direct contact with workers who have been disadvantaged by the low minimum wage as part of your work. What are some of the stories that you are hearing or have heard from folks that have made it clear to you that a living wage is needed? What we've been hearing from them has been really, really sad in terms of their lives that they're living right now. hours a day, seven days a week. So he literally has six hours a day to sleep, eat, spend time with his family, travel back and forth to work. When I heard that, I just couldn't even believe it. One of the other workers we know, he works three jobs to take care of his family. And his father also works three jobs. And his mother works one job. And they all

share an apartment. If you can imagine, it takes five jobs just for them to pay their rent and for their food. It's like, you know, these things are happening. But when you talk to the workers, and you see it in their eyes, and their absolute desperation desperation when you tell them that you're fighting for them and that you want to raise the minimum wage for workers like them. It just makes it so real. And is there one particular like sector or industry where this issue is more apparent than others? Or is it kind of widespread? It is widespread, but I think food service is definitely the lowest as well as retail. Those are the two most prevalent businesses that are paying well below a living wage. So Hawaii State Senate has already passed a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour

by 2026. But its House of Representatives is working on a slower bill that would raise the minimum wage $18 an hour by 2030. I guess what is the argument for moving more slowly on this issue? Obviously, this needs to happen as soon as possible. Right. I think, you know, businesses have been putting a lot of pressure on these lawmakers, especially small business. I think they've been very determined to let the lawmakers know that they're struggling. And we do acknowledge that the pandemic has been very difficult for them. But it's been more difficult for our workers. And so legislators tend to listen to business more than the people that they serve

and their own constituents, which has really always been something that has really been a challenge here in Hawaii. Absolutely. So can you tell our listeners what they can do to get involved with Raise Up Hawaii and support workers in Hawaii? What's the best way for them to kind of let the Hawaii government know, but also just support you all and your efforts to get to an $18 minimum wage? One really great way people could

get involved is if they go on our capital website, they can go and register for a hearing notification for one of the two bills that we're currently working on, which is Senate Bill 2018, or House Bill 2510. And if they'd like to submit testimony, even as someone who doesn't live in Hawaii, they are still able to do that. And that would be really powerful as well. You know, hearing from other people across the nation who really believe this is important, and maybe sharing some of their own experiences in their own states, I think would also be helpful. Another thing that people can do if they ever visit here is just treat our service workers well, you know, tip them a little more, just know that they're working super, super hard. Tourism is really rough here. Sometimes,

you know, people tend to feel entitled sometimes and not everyone does, but they do have to put up with that a lot. Just having people be friendly and showing aloha for them as well, as much as they show aloha for the tourists, I think would be really great. Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. We'll put some links in our show notes to the websites Christy mentioned, but that is the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines.

The Supreme Court had quite the busy Monday. Yesterday, they rejected a petition to review Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision to release disgraced comedian Bill Cosby from jail on the grounds that his due process rights had been violated. Also yesterday, the judicial body rejected Republican-led challenges to court-ordered congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The maps originated after each state's Republican-controlled state legislature submitted a particularly gerrymandered map that gave the GOP an unfair advantage. Each state's Supreme Court rejected its map, adopting maps that were less biased towards Republicans, leading those Republicans to appeal to the federal Supreme Court. The decision of the court to not intervene in redistricting disputes in these battleground states could bode well for Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Amid these rejections, our highest court did manage to actually rule on

something. In Wooden v. U.S., the nine justices unanimously ruled that a man convicted of robbing multiple storage units in the same building on the same night was guilty of just one, quote, criminal episode under the Armed Career Criminals Act. That law precludes people who have been convicted of three or more serious felonies, quote, committed on occasions different from one another, from owning guns.

It's a major victory for Wooden, who faced more than a dozen extra years in prison due to prosecutors' harshest possible interpretation of that law. Yesterday, the Supreme Court said that conviction was an error, which will reduce his prison sentence and narrow the scope of the Armed Career Criminals Act for others. The Pentagon announced yesterday that the U.S. Navy will permanently close its Red Hill fuel storage facility on Wahoo in Hawaii. The development comes after leaked petroleum was found in Pearl Harbor's tap water in November of 2021, resulting in a contaminated water crisis.

The contamination of the area's drinking water caused nearly 6,000 people in military housing at or near Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam to get sick, displacing 4,000 families in the process. Back in December, we heard from Mai Hall, a native of Hawaiian resident in military housing who would get her water from the Red Hill Well. Here she is describing her neighbors. A lot of my friends took pictures of their kids with blistered bloody lips. Somebody went to the ER for chemical burns inside their mouth. Somebody's five-month pregnant wife went to the ER for uncontrollable vomiting. And somebody's little infant was covered in a red rash from bathing in the water. Protesters and activists have been pushing for the closure of the facility for years as known problems with Red Hill date as far back as 2014 when 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from the facility.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a statement yesterday explaining that the Defense Department will work closely with Hawaii's Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency to safely defuel the Red Hill facility, a process that is expected to take about a year. And an action plan will be put in place, quote, no later than May 31st. Another tough break for the guys who drive the big cars that go honk honk. On Monday, the Biden administration proposed new policies that would require heavy duty trucks to reduce certain emissions over the next decade or so. The rule would require newer truck models reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions by 90 percent by 2031, while also further narrowing carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA says this is the first action of a three-stepped clean trucks plan, which will roll out over the next three years. The proposal was just one of a handful of federal clean transportation actions announced by Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, alongside $5.5 18,000 cases of asthma in children.

No estimates, however, have been released on how many trucker tantrums the regulations will cause, but we'll confidently say at least three. Yeah, best case scenario. Pause up, little wadsters. Lady Gaga announced the new tour scheduled for her Chromatica Ball tour, which was originally set for 2020, back when the monsters were even littler. The tour will be honoring the original locations as well as adding a few additional cities

to the cross-continental ball. We'd like to thank the Academy for snubbing Lady Gaga for an Oscar for her genre and logic-defying turn in House of Gucci, reminding Gaga that in addition to sometimes acting, she's also a globally beloved pop star. The tour will take place starting in July across Europe before moving to North America, concluding at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in September. When Chromatica came out in 2020, fans saw Gaga collaborate with Elton John, Ariana Grande, and perhaps most notably, the Oreo cookie. We'll all have to wait and see if the pink and green chromatical Oreo,

which was somehow real and not a COVID dream we all shared, will appear with Gaga on stage with her during her tour. In fact, someone will have to just tell me because I can't stay up late enough to go to concerts anymore. You know what? I haven't been to a concert in a minute. I'm not going to see Lady Gaga, but I'm glad she's put acting on hold for a minute.

We love to see it. We love to see it. Just give it a year, babes. Give it a year. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, help retire Lady Gaga from acting,

and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the growing list of trucker woes like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter so check it out and subscribe at crooked.com subscribe i'm josie duffy rice i'm trevelle anderson and who wants to buy a claymation p davidson it's going for $10,000. High price, okay? It's handmade. There's really only one audience for it, and it's Kanye West, and he has money, so, you know.

He's got plenty of money, okay? Kanye, just call us. We'll make it happen. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Leo Duran and me, Gideon Resnick. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.