Permanent California Carwash Worker Law Takes Step Forward

by James Parks, Apr 24, 2009

The effort to bring justice to Southern California car wash workers took a step forward this week when a state legislative committee voted to renew the Golden State’s “Carwash Worker Law” after hearing from a Los Angeles car wash worker who testified about conditions on the job. The 6-1 vote in the Committee on Labor and Employment sends the bill (AB 236) to the Committee on Appropriations. If Appropriations approves, the bill will move to a floor vote.

Manuel Zuniga described for the committee the conditions at the Florence Car Wash in Los Angeles, where he worked for more than three years until he was fired last December after filing a claim with the state regarding stolen wages.

Zuniga told the committee he worked 10- and 11-hour days and was only paid between $35 and $48 per day. The state’s minimum wage is $8 per hour, and any hours worked in excess of eight must be paid at time and a half. Zuniga said:

I have a wife and children who need my support. I cannot pay for life’s necessities on those wages. There was so much injustice in our workplace. Some of my co-workers worked for tips only, getting no wages at all. Many times, the boss would not let us take breaks to rest or eat meals.

Zuniga said he was fired for telling state investigators the truth:

After some of us filed wage claims with the labor commissioner, there was an investigation. Our boss told us to lie to the investigator, to say that we were paid $8 per hour and that everything was okay at work. But I would not lie. Later on I was fired.

The car wash law is set to expire Dec. 31, 2009. The bill would renew the law and make it permanent.

Attorney Kevin Kish told the committee car wash workers are some of the most exploited workers in the state. He said employers routinely do not pay the legal minimum wage, do not grant workers meal or rest breaks and do not pay appropriate taxes or insurance premiums.

He added that the Carwash Worker Law has begun to level the playing field for workers as well as for law-abiding business owners who want the law to end the unfair competition in their industry.

The effort to gain justice for the “carwasheros” is being led by the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), a coalition of more than 130 organizations, including labor unions, to immigrant rights organizations and environmental and worker health and safety advocates, working to improve working conditions in the car wash industry. 

In February, Los Angeles city Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, the city’s top prosecutor, filed criminal charges against two local car wash owners, four of their facilities and the manager of one of the city’s biggest car wash operations.

The complaint charges Benny and Nisan Pirian, the car wash owners, and Manuel Reyes, manager of the Pirian-owned Vermont Hand Wash, with 176 counts of criminal misconduct—including conspiracy, witness intimidation, grand theft, brandishing a deadly weapon, failure to pay wages and failure to comply with wage orders of the state’s Industrial Welfare Commission regulating workplace conditions.

Last year, the mostly immigrant car wash workers throughout Los Angeles had formed the Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC) of the United Steelworkers (USW) to raise their standard of living, secure basic workplace protections and address the serious environmental and safety hazards in their industry. 

California leads the nation in the number of car wash operations. The car washes are highly profitable with a typical return on investment of more than 40 percent, according to a CWOC report, “Cleaning Up the Carwash Industry: Empowering Workers and Protecting Communities.” However, the report says profits from this industry are largely derived from violations of workers’ legal rights, including rampant noncompliance with minimum wage, overtime, rest and meal period requirements. Car wash workers routinely work 50 to 60 hours a week and average $12,500 a year, with no benefits.

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