California Fines Carwashes $700,000
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Chloe Osmer of the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) Carwash Campaign reports on a series of enforcement actions last week by California’s Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet at more than 200 carwash operations in the state.
The California labor commissioner’s office investigated 247 carwashes in California, including nearly 50 in Los Angeles County alone. The businesses include carwashes that the CLEAN Carwash Campaign had reported to the state as having potential wage-and-hour violations based on complaints from workers.
The actions, which resulted in more than $700,000 in fines to the carwashes, made it clear that the carwash industry continues to violate even the most basic laws protecting workers. The industry’s widespread problems with compliance highlight the need for workers to have a union to help enforce standards in their workplace.
Permanent California Carwash Worker Law Takes Step Forward
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.
Carwash Campaign Highlights Success of Community-Labor Teamwork
One of the best ways for unions to reach out to new groups of workers is by joining with community-based worker centers across the country—and the campaign to gain better working conditions for carwash workers in Los Angeles recently has done just that, according to several union leaders involved in the campaign.
AFL-CIO General Counsel Jon Hiatt, speaking at a brown bag discussion yesterday at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., said worker centers and unions have a lot in common. They both fight for enforcement of wage and hour laws, oppose misclassification of workers and they fight for immigrant rights. Hiatt says:
We have the experience, the expertise. Worker centers have a strong community base. Bringing the two movements together is good for workers. A few years ago, I couldn’t imagine local or national unions would be working so closely with worker centers.
