March 2012
37 posts
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En Queens: Inmigrantes exigen trato y salario... →
Alegan que su patrono los “trata mal, algunas veces nos grita y ganamos menos del mínimo”
Nueva York - Un salario digno y que se les trate con respeto.
A eso aspiran empleados del Car Wash Sutphin, ubicado en el 9731 Sutphin Blvd, en Jamaica, Queens, quienes se manifestaron hoy para denunciar supuestos abusos del patrono.
“Nos trata mal, algunas veces nos grita y ganamos menos...
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Tomorrow: Car Wash Workers Condemn Dirty Practices...
Media Contacts: Hilary Klein (Spanish/English). hilary.klein@maketheroadny.org. 347.423.8277 Olivia Leirer. oleirer@nycommunities.org. 646.479.3426
Car Wash Workers Demand Better Treatment, Condemn Retaliations at a Dirty Car Wash in Queens Under Investigation by the NY Attorney General’s Office *Escalation of Car Wash Workers’ Campaign, Following AG Car Wash Probe, Revelations...
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NY Daily News: Mexican immigrant Adan Nicolas says... →
Nicolas claims unfair wages and abuse at LMC Car Wash in Queens
For a decade, he’s toiled 12 hours a day for meager pay, polishing cars to a gleam with harsh chemicals that make his nose bleed.
Because he’s in the country illegally, like many of his co-workers, he was afraid to complain.
But no longer.
Mexican immigrant Adan Nicolas says he wants New Yorkers to know the anonymous army that...
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NY Daily News: State probes whether New York... →
Exclusive: Workers claim bizman pays employees $5.50 per hour - $1.75 less than legal minimum
The state is investigating whether New York City’s car-wash kingpin has financed a life of luxury by cheating workers out of wages, the Daily News has learned.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last week slapped a subpoena on John Lage, who is linked to more than a dozen car washes and lives in a...
Amsterdam News: Coalition aims to clean up car... →
rwdsu:
Edilberto Rojas-Rosas is a 25-year-old father of two struggling to support his family on the $378 he brings home weekly for working 72 hours at an East Harlem car wash. Paying the rent and putting food on the table is a daily struggle. For thousands of car wash workers in New York City, it is a similar story.
On March 16, Workers Aligned for a Sustainable and Healthy New York (WASH NY)...
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Workers World: Immigrant car washers organize in... →
Immigrant rights, community and labor groups announced on March 6 that they are starting a campaign to organize the 5,000 mostly immigrant car washers at about 200 sites in New York City. The industry’s violations of workers’ rights include lower-than-minimum wages, no paid overtime and failing to supply protective equipment to those working with caustic cleaners that burn their eyes and noses....
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Crain's New York: Car wash workers pick new target →
Stepping up their campaign to improve working conditions, workers and organizers will take aim at a car-wash chain that’s been in trouble before.
A car wash operator who three years ago paid $3.4 million to settle charges that it underpaid workers has become the top target of a campaign to improve working conditions in the industry.
Workers and organizers will zero in Friday on Lage...
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New York Daily News: East Harlem car wash workers... →
Workers charge low pay, long hours and exposure to dangerous chemicals
A car wash kingpin is set to be at the center of a confrontation with dozens of disgruntled East Harlem workers and advocates hoping to powerwash his dirty treatment of employees.
The group is hoping for a noon showdown Friday with mogul John Lage at LMC Car Wash on E. 109th St. and First Ave.
“Lage has a long...
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Emergency Action, 4:15 PM: Car Wash Workers Tell...
Media Contacts: Magdalena Barbosa. magdalena.barbosa@maketheroadny.org. 646-421-7408 Deborah Axt (Spanish and English). deborah.axt@maketheroadny.org. 347.432.6254 Olivia Leirer. oleirer@nycommunities.org. 646.479.3426 Dan Morris. dmorris@rwdsu.org. 212.684.5300/917.547.8005
Car Wash Workers Tell Managers: ‘Stop Retaliating Against Us!’
March 15, 4:15 p.m., Sutphin Car Wash,...
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Labor Press: Car Wash Industry Awash in Labor... →
The report, “The Dirty Business of Cleaning NYC’s Cars,” cites that workers receive low pay, poor treatment from their bosses and face hazardous working conditions. For example, the report notes that, based on interviews with 89 city car washers at 29 different car wash facilities, “Over 71 percent of the workers were on the job for at least 60 hours a week, with some working as many as 105 hours....
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People's World: RWDSU launches campaign for NYC... →
“We have been threatened many times if we fight for our rights, so for a long time I didn’t do anything to stand up for myself. But I know that if we unite, we can make sure our rights are respected,” said car wash worker Nelson Hernandez. Read the full story.
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UFCW Blog: NY Daily News Ed Board on Carwash... →
The New York Daily News’s editorial board hit a home run today with their editorial on the campaign by New York City carwash workers trying to clean up the industry.
As the editorial says,
“More power to the car wash workers who, in a new push this week, have chosen to exercise their freedom under law to try to organize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
...
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New York Daily News: Car washes have to clean up... →
Organizing and invoking their labor rights is the American way
Workers chronically stiffed of the minimum wage they are supposed to be guaranteed. Stolen tips. Overtime not counted or not properly paid.
Regular exposure, without proper safeguards, to chemicals that cn harm health long term. Injuries sustained by working with hazardous machinery — and often no recompense.
In one industry, too...
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Left Labor Reporter: East, West Coast carwash... →
The CLEAN Carwash Campaign announced that two more Los Angeles carwashes have signed union contracts making them the second and third businesses in the area to become union carwashes. Meanwhile in New York City, members of Wash New York, a carwash organizing coalition, on Tuesday released a report documenting the unjust working conditions at the city’s carwashes and announced a union organizing...
State sues three L.A. car washes for alleged wage... →
rwdsu:
State labor regulators have sued three Los Angeles-area car washes for alleged minimum wage and overtime pay violations. WASH New York takes inspiration from the tremendous work of the AFL-CIO in California. Read the full story.
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AOL News: NYC Car Wash Workers Seek Unionization... →
Working at a car wash may be better than digging a ditch, as the 1970s hit song says, but employees in New York City who work cleaning cars and trucks say pay and working conditions need vast improvement. Read more.
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Huffington Post: Car Wash Workers In New York... →
QUEENS, N.Y. — On Tuesday morning, a group of roughly 100 workers, local labor leaders and community organizers gathered in the cold on a parking lot in front of Metro Car Wash to announce a bold new campaign for New York City: a drive to bring fair working conditions to the car wash industry, on in which employees routinely earn below minimum wage and labor law violations are the norm.
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Telemundo: Protesta por salarios justos en Car...
DNAinfo: Queens Car Wash Workers Rally Against... →
FOREST HILLS — Nelson Hernandez said his eyes burn for hours after he leaves his job at a Queens car wash. Raul Perez claimed the soap used to scrub down the cars at one location once burned the hairs off his legs. Carlos Garcia, another local car wash employee, said he was ignored when he asked for gloves or a mask to protect his body from hours of chemical exposure.
All three immigrant workers...
Human Resources Journal: Labor Battle On Horizon →
A first-of-its-kind investigative report has brought to light the widespread mistreatment of New York City’s car wash workers. The report called, “The Dirty Business of Cleaning NYC’s Cars” is compiled from a representative sampling of 89 car wash workers at 29 car washes around the city and was released by WASH New York (Workers Aligned for a Sustainable and Healthy New York) along with a broad...
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El Diario: Denuncian explotación en los Car Wash →
Nueva York - Muchos empleados, la mayoría inmigrantes latinos, de los talleres de lavado de carros de Nueva York, sufren explotación laboral, de acuerdo a un detallado informe elaborado por varias organizaciones de la ciudad que han lanzado una campaña conjunta para detener esta mala práctica. Read more.
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Transportation Nation: Car Wash Workers Protest... →
Standing in front of the Metro Car Wash in Rego Park, Queens, Tuesday a few dozen car wash workers, union activists, and a couple of city council members kicked off a campaign to organize workers and improve conditions at the almost 200 car washes across New York City.
David de la Cruz Perez says this effort is necessary. He emigrated from Guatemala five years ago, and he makes $5.50 an hour...
BNA Daily Labor: Advocacy Groups, RWDSU Open Drive... →
By John Herzfeld
NEW YORK—A pair of community advocacy groups and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union have joined in a campaign to improve labor conditions for workers at New York City car washes, the coalition announced March 6.
The launch of the campaign, called Workers Aligned for a Sustainable and Healthy (WASH) New York, was marked by the release of an investigative report...
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NY1: Activists Demand More Labor Oversight At City... →
Watch the full video clip and view this story/video in Spanish.
A new report alleges mistreatment at the city’s car washes.
Among the findings released by Workers Aligned for a Sustainable and Healthy New York, more than 70 percent of workers said they put in at least 60 hours a week, and 75 percent said they did not make any overtime pay.
About 66 percent report they made less than...
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New York Daily News: Car wash workers endure... →
Car wash workers in New York are routinely denied overtime, exposed to toxic chemicals and receive less than minimum wage, according to a report unveiled Tuesday.
Labor advocates are pushing for industry-wide reform — a campaign that includes the call to unionize workers, mostly undocumented Latino immigrants.
The report commissioned by WASH New York, a coalition of labor and community groups,...
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AFL CIO Blog: New York City Carwash Workers Launch... →
New York City carwash workers are following their Los Angeles counterparts to battle rampant mistreatment, wage theft and unsafe working conditions. Today the coalition, WASH New York, released a report—“The Dirty Business of Cleaning NYC’s Cars”—that details the long hours, low pay and dangerous conditions the city’s more than 5,000 carwash workers at some 200 carwashes face every day.
The Wash...
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Bold Campaign Launched to Clean Up Dirty Practices...
Media Contacts: Deborah Axt (Spanish and English). deborah.axt@maketheroadny.org. 347.432.6254 Olivia Leirer. oleirer@nycommunities.org. 646.479.3426 Dan Morris. dmorris@rwdsu.org. 212.684.5300/917.547.8005
First-of-its-Kind Investigative Report Propels Car Wash Industry Reform Effort
New York, NY— An eye-opening investigative report showing widespread mistreatment of the city’s car wash...
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CBS New York: Community, Labor Organizations... →
A labor battle is brewing in the city.
It worked in Los Angeles and now there is a push in New York City to unionize car wash workers.
A coalition of community and labor organizations says the workers, most of whom are immigrants, are often paid less than the $7.25 an hour minimum wage and lack protective gear. Read more from CBS New York.
MYFOXNY.COM - There is reportedly a campaign jumping off Tuesday to improve working conditions for New York City’s 1,600 car wash workers by unionizing the work force. Read more.
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Crain's New York: Union, advocates push for... →
A coalition of labor and community groups will launch a campaign Tuesday to improve conditions for workers at the city’s 200 car washes. Read more from Crain’s New York.
New Campaign to Clean Up Dirty Practices in NYC...
Media Contacts: Deborah Axt (Spanish and English). deborah.axt@maketheroadny.org. 347.432.6254 Olivia Leirer. oleirer@nycommunities.org. 646.479.3426 Dan Morris. dmorris@rwdsu.org. 212.684.5300/917.547.8005
First-of-its Kind Investigative Report and Industry Reform Effort Unveiled
March 6, 10-11 a.m., Metro Car Wash, 91-10 Metropolitan Avenue, Rego Park, Queens
WHAT: A new investigative...
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New York Times: Carwash Workers in New York City... →
At a carwash in an industrial patch of Astoria, Queens, Adan Nicolas, a Mexican immigrant, is preparing to open the newest front in New York City’s labor battles. Read this week’s New York Times exclusive.