The New American Sweatshop

Posted by axelcaballero at 9:31 am
August 30, 2011
comments5 COMMENTS
Meet The New American Sweatshop

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/08/30/meet-the-new-american-sweatshop/

The professional carwash industry is a $23 billion enterprise, one which more and more Americans make use of every year. If you visited a carwash lately – which judging by the latest industry report you probably have or will in the near future – you may have noticed the fast and arduous labor of carwash workers. You have seen that even in the most extreme heat or cold weather, carwash workers are hard at it – focusing on every nook and cranny of your vehicle. What you probably missed – as is the case in many carwashes across the country – is that this work is accompanied by obscene labor abuses, health hazardous conditions, employer exploitation and intimidation. Carwash workers are the face of the new American sweatshop.
Carwash operators routinely violate basic employment laws like those requiring workers be permitted to take rest breaks or have access to shade and clean drinking water. Workers frequently work more than 10 hours a day, more than 6 days a week, without even the slightest thought of overtime. In fact, car wash workers are often paid much less than the legal minimum wage, sometimes earning less than $3 an hour or working for cash tips alone. Employees who complain about the exploitative conditions at the workplace are often intimidated and threatened by car wash operators.

A majority of carwash workers are Latino and immigrants – many do not have a clear understanding of their rights, which opens the door for abusive car wash operators to take advantage. Cuéntame has launched a documentary video and a national campaign exposing the sweatshop practices and is calling for individuals who have witnessed these or other abusive conditions at their local car washes to submit there stories on their website.

Cuéntame has documented how carwash workers are subject to health and safety hazards such as constant exposure to water and to dangerous chemicals without protective gear. Workers in the industry have reported severe kidney damage, respiratory problems and nerve deterioration. Most lack health insurance, services or protection and end up using up all their earnings to pay their medical bills. It is a shameful and vicious cycle with no apparent end.

According to the Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), an advocacy organization working to protect car wash workers’ rights, in Los Angeles, CA alone there are approximately 10,000 carwash workers that are potentially exposed to this abuse on a daily basis. This past June, the Clean Carwash Campaign helped a former Los Angeles carwash worker win an $80,000 lawsuit against his ex-employers who forced him for years to work early in the morning but prevented him from clocking in officially until later in the day. The campaign has been working to improve conditions and to ensure that carwash employers meet labor standards and abide by fair workplace practices, but there is still much more that needs to be done.

The exploitation of car wash workers is the face of a new American sweatshop, one that operates in plain daylight in our communities, in our neighborhoods and at our corner carwash. It’s time to stop turning a blind eye to it.
Axel Woolfolk Caballero was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He founded, directs and produces Cuéntame, MyCuentame.org and runs the Spanish language opinion site Metaforapolitica.com.Before, Axel was the Media and Community Relations Director for Peace Education Fund and Peace Action West. For over 10 years, Axel has been active on diverse campaigns issues from nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, to immigration to human rights with particular emphasis on Latin American affairs through the development of visual and film campaigns.He has been part in several electoral teams both in the United States as in Mexico. He was part of the Global Security Institute, a non-profit for nuclear disarmament as well as Aim for Human Rights in the Netherlands focused mainly on human rights in Latin America.

I liked the shots of the guys on the other side of fences as if to show they're prisoners at their own jobs.

There may be shady carwash operators out there who abuse their employees, but to lable all carwashes as doing the same as this video does is down right slander.

I am blessed to have met and become close friends with many of the top operators in the country. They clothe, feed, help there employees with lifes problems and generally treat them as good as family in many cases...There is more abuse from congressman than carwash operators... Just more BS..