Labor Union Blog

Eight California car washes agreed to an historic $1 million settlement with the state’s attorney general for routinely failing to pay minimum wage or overtime, creating false records of work hours and not paying money owed to employees who quit, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Workers at these car washes were taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers who illegally denied them the pay and benefits they earned. I am pleased that the resolution of this case will allow workers to receive the pay they are owed.

At least $800,000 of the settlement will go to workers who were underpaid, according to court records. Other parts of the settlement will pay taxes and penalties. Click here for a copy of the settlement agreement.

Two of the of the car washes in the agreement are Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica and Marina Car Washin Venice, where workers fought and won recognition with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 675 last year. Says Local 75′s Dave Campbell:

We are glad that the Attorney General is taking seriously the issue of wage theft among car wash workers. Workers have been waiting to be made whole for past violations for years.

The workers there and at other Southern California carwashes came together in the CLEAN Carwash Campaign to fight for their rights. The CLEAN Carwash Campaign is a coalition supported by the USW, the AFL-CIO and more than 100 community, faith and labor organizations in Los Angeles. For more information, click here.

More good news from the Clean Carwash Campaign: the owner of Navas Car Wash in Marina Del Ray, the successor company to BJ Car Wash, agreed to respect and sign the union contract agreed to by the previous owner and ratified in early November.

This just in from the Indiana AFL-CIO:

Following the NFL Players Association statement on “right to work” Friday, six NFL players have sent letters to the Indiana state representatives and senators denouncing the so-called “right to work” legislation.

Trai Essex (Steelers), Rex Grossman (Redskins), Mark Clayton (Rams), Jay Cutler (Bears), Courtney Roby (Saints), and Kris Dielman (Chargers), all Indiana natives, urged lawmakers to “vote “NO” on the so-called “right-to-work” bills that are dividing working families at a time when communities need to stand united.”

They also stated that “as Indianapolis proudly prepares to host the Super Bowl, it should be a time to shine in the national spotlight and highlight the hard working families that make Indiana run instead of launching political attacks on their basic rights.”

In 2001, Oklahoma passed a so-called right to work (RTW) law and its backers made the exact claims Hoosiers are hearing today. RTW proponents painted a picture of a booming economy with huge job creation as companies would swoop into Oklahoma like the Boomer Sooners of the 1889 land rush. None of that ever materialized, two Oklahoma workers told an Indiana statehouse news conference this morning.

Jesse Isbell worked for 36 years at the Bridgestone Tire plant in Oklahoma City before it shut down 2006 and the jobs were shipped to Mexico.

There is absolutely no anecdotal or empirical evidence that RTW has benefitted Oklahoma’s state economy in any way.  The company made the decision to outsource our jobs even though the proponents of the right-to-work legislation claimed it would prevent such departures and even attract new businesses to locate in the state.

Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and the Republican lawmakers pushing RTW in the Hoosier State claim hundreds of businesses have decided not locate in Indiana because the state lacks a RTW law. But they cannot produce a single example. Isbell says that’s a re-run of what Oklahomans heard in 2001.

Proponents of RTW in Oklahoma literally said that employers were lined up at the state line ready to move to Oklahoma once the bill became law.  Mind you, they never offered any specific examples, and those nameless companies never materialized to become employers in Oklahoma. Beware of any argument that makes similar claims without specifics to back it up.

Since the law passed in 2001, the number of new companies coming into Oklahoma has decreased by one-third and the number of manufacturing jobs in the state has Read more…

The Indiana AFL-CIO sends us this report on the working people’s response to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ (R) State of the State address. Daniels and Republican lawmakers are ramming a right to work for less bill through the legislature. After yesterday’s state house committee vote passing RTW, Democratic lawmakers began another filibuster by leaving the state. Click here and here for more.

Facing an unprecedented partisan attack on collective bargaining rights, for the first time in Indiana history, working Hoosiers from around the state joined together to offer a formal reply to the Governor’s State of the State address.

The group, which included a teacher, sanitation worker, carpenter, steelworker, pastor, electrician, automotive worker and home health care provider, discussed the anti-worker agenda being pursued in the General Assembly and specifically the right to work for less legislation. Said South Bend teacher Jennifer Peck:

On his first day in office, Gov. Daniels took away the collective bargaining rights of public workers, and then he further restricted the collective bargaining rights of teachers like me.  Now he’s going after everyone else. As a teacher, I’m already paying the price for these partisan politics; however I am here tonight because I know that a “right to work” law would make things so much worse for Hoosiers.

Darryl Crenshaw, a sanitation worker in Indianapolis, served in the U.S. Navy and as a firefighter was injured in the line of duty when a jet crashed into a hotel in 1987. He too, opposes the right to work for less bill.

This law would limit the ability of employers and employees to negotiate a contract. It would put unnecessary government interference into each of our workplaces and would lower wages and reduce working conditions for Hoosier workers. Working in Sanitation, there isn’t much that’s hidden away. We see it all. And behind the deceptive veil of “right to work,” this is all about power and money. House Speaker [Brian] Bosma, Sen. [David] Long and Gov. Daniels are working for greedy CEOs and shady special interest groups, and willing to sacrifice us and our families in the process.

In his remarks, Evansville Electrician Paul Greene disputed Daniels’ claims of public support for this contentious issue.

On ads and in political speeches like this one, Indiana politicians claim Hoosier support for a “right to work” law. But these claims don’t hold up, and the undemocratic, closed door tactics we’ve seen in the past few days prove this.

Polls show that most Hoosier workers either oppose “right to work” or simply have no idea what it is. Political ads during the last election didn’t mention “right to work,” because people aren’t clamoring to vote against middle class jobs.