Labor & Employment Law

California Sues Carwash Owners for $6.6 Million

By James Parks

The struggle for justice for carwash workers in southern California took a big step forward today. State Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit seeking $6.6 million in back pay and penalties for the largely immigrant Latino carwash workers employed at eight carwashes throughout California.

The carwashes are owned by the Sikder Group of companies, and includes two Los Angeles County carwashes, Marina Car Wash in Venice and Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica. Workers from these carwashes have reported receiving paychecks that bounced, dangerous working conditions, and management harassment of workers. In 2008, 40 Marina workers walked off the job and picketed in front of the carwash to protest their useless paychecks.

Henry Huerta, director of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign told a press conference today:

We applaud the Attorney General for taking such strong action to right these injustices and recover monies owed to carwash workers and the state of California.

The CLEAN Carwash Campaign is a coalition supported by the United Steelworkers (USW), the AFL-CIO and more than 100 community, faith, and labor organizations in Los Angeles. For more information, click here.

In August, two of the most unrepentant abusers of carwash workers? rights?the Pirian brothers, Benny and Nissan, were each sentenced to one year in jail for labor law violations.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 04, 2010 (boomark / email).