Our main goal as the Hawai’i Workers Center is to organize workers so that they can advocate for their rights. 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 Hawai’i)
- 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.