Organizing carwash workers

Well, at least trying to. The L.A. County Federation of Labor and a coalition of community, religious, environmental and immigrant rights groups will be announcing a union organizing campaign this week. This comes a few days after an LAT story revealed frequent violations of immigration and labor laws. Half or more of carwash owners disregard minimum wage laws, according to an investigator at California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. And since many of the workers are undocumented, they're not in much of a position to complain. “Carwash owners are often operating below the radar of labor, health and safety and environmental laws,” said Labor Federation spokeswoman Mary Guitierrez. “Carwash workers are often illegally paid less than the minimum wage, sometimes working for tips alone…and are regularly subjected to health and safety hazards.”