Leo W. Gerard - United Steelworkers

The USW’s coordinated work
with community groups to improve
conditions for thousands
of exploited car wash workers
in Los Angeles continues to make waves.
In January, a National Workers’
Rights Board, whose members include
Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger
Mahony, heard testimony describing
widespread worker and environmental
abuses in the industry.
A month earlier, California Attorney
General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a
lawsuit against Los Angeles car wash
Auto Spa Express, seeking $630,000 in
unpaid wages for workers and over $2
million in penalties for violations of the
state’s Unfair Competition Law.
Alleged violations include failure to
pay minimum wage and overtime, failure
to report on-the-job injuries and failure
to pay state payroll taxes.
The attorney general was alerted to
the violations by the CLEAN Carwash
Campaign, a joint effort of the USW and
the Community-Labor-Environmental
Action Network (CLEAN).
“We applaud the attorney general for
taking such strong action to right these
injustices and recover monies owed to
workers and the state of California,”
campaign director Henry Huerta said.
32 USW@Work • Winter 2010
There are as many as 10,000 car wash
workers in Los Angeles, many of whom
work for less than minimum wage and
without other basic protections.
At the January hearing, former cashier
Maria Hernandez said co-workers
at Auto Spa Express were paid less than
minimum wage with no overtime pay for
working 50 to 60 hours a week.
“I saw workers have accidents
because they were not provided basic
safety equipment and I saw the owners
fire or reduce the hours of workers who
they suspected of supporting a union,”
she testified.
Although the car wash was subject to
local legislation mandating a living wage
of $11.55 an hour, workers reported being
paid from $50 to $60 for a 10-hour
day. Some claimed health problems from
exposure to hazardous chemicals.
“The conditions at Auto Spa were
awful,’’ said Custodio Camacho, a
former worker. “We had no place to eat
lunch except the chemical storage room
and we often worked in the hot sun all
day without drinking water or time to
take breaks. Several co-workers got
hands or legs caught in the conveyor
because the owners refused to fix it.”
With the help of the CLEAN campaign,
Custodio and others filed a
International President Leo W. Gerard stands with members of the
Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC-USW) in Los
Angeles after testifying at a National Workers’ Rights Board on
conditions in the industry.
Photo by Jose Barrera/ CLEAN Carwash Campaign
complaint with California’s Division of
Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/
OSHA) detailing serious health and safety
hazards. Cal/OSHA issued $18,890 in
citations for health and safety violations.
CLEAN supports the right of car
wash workers to organize a union and
bargain collectively. It also seeks to
improve working conditions and ensure
that employers meet labor standards and
abide by fair workplace practices.
At the hearing, International President
Leo W. Gerard said: “Industry-wide
standards will remain nothing but a
dream” without union contracts.
“It is painful but very important for
us to hear the personal experiences of
workers facing coercion, intimidation by
their bosses and the impact this has had
on them, as well as their families and the
community,” Gerard said.
“My union has a long and proud
history of fighting for the rights of lowwage
and immigrant workers. Be assured
the United Steelworkers will stand with
all car wash workers in Los Angeles for
as long as it takes to organize a local
union where they can act collectively to
better their lives.”
Separate from the lawsuit, the USW
Carwash Organizing Committee is
pursuing unfair labor practice allegations
against Auto Spa Express with the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The committee last year filed charges
alleging unfair labor practices including
the firing of workers who supported the
union. The NLRB’s General Council
investigated and filed a complaint, which
is pending before the board in Washington,
D.C.
Back pay distribution
A similar NLRB complaint against
another Los Angeles car wash, Vermont
Hand Wash, led to a back-pay distribution
last October and offers of reinstatement
for fired workers.
Four workers who were fired or saw
their hours reduced at Vermont because
of union involvement received $45,517
in back-pay awards through a formal
settlement to NLRB complaints brought
by the USW. Another $8,925 was set
aside to reimburse a larger group of employees
for time lost when the employer
unplugged a time clock during union
demonstrations.
Local 1899’s Dennis Barker Honored for Political Action
USW Local 1899, which represents members at U.S. Steel Corp.’s Granite City Works and
four other locations, is heir to a long history of political activism.
The Granite City, Ill. local was formed with the merger of Locals 16, 30 and 67, all of
which can trace political activism to the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers,
predecessor to the Steel Workers Organizing Committee.
Dennis Barker, chairman of the local’s Political Action Committee, works hard to keep that
proud tradition alive. For his efforts, he has been named the PAC Member of the Quarter.
Barker was nominated by District 7 Director Jim Robinson and Sub-District Director Dave
Dowling after Local 1899 raised more than $23,000 in voluntary
PAC contributions.
Federal Election Commission rules prohibit the use of union
dues money for political purposes, making it imperative that
members voluntarily support local PAC efforts.
Barker said success is a group effort made possible by support
from the officers and membership of the local.
“It is our members who deserve all the credit for what we
are able to do raising voluntary contributions and engaging in
political action,’’ he added. “They understand that what happens
in the political arena affects their work life and their families’
standard of living. They always come through when the union
sends out a call for action.”
Hall Dedicated to Memorial Day Massacre Victims
USW Local 1010 in East Chicago, Ind., has renamed its union hall “Memorial Hall” in honor
of those who fought and died at the Memorial Day Massacre during the 1937 Little Steel
Strike.
The massacre occurred on May 30, 1937 as members of the Steel Workers Organiz- ing
Committee were protesting Republic Steel’s refusal to sign a union contract.
More than 200 Chicago police officers opened fire on strikers who were marching to
plant gates after a picnic. Ten were killed and more than 100 were wounded.
The hall was dedicated last Dec. 4. The ceremony included an address by International
President Leo W. Gerard and the unveiling
of a 300-pound black granite memorial.
Tom Hargrove, president of Local
1010, credits the union’s history as one of
the reasons the local has a reputation for
being active and progressive.
“Like the mine workers, from whom
the steelworkers evolved, our history
is based on blood, sweat and tears,’’
Hargrove told members. “The benefits we
have today were earned with the blood of
those who came before us.”
USW Posts Resource Guide for Laid-off Members
The upheaval in the economy is causing major distress throughout our union and in the lives
of thousands of our members.
The USW has put together resources that may be used as a starting point for locals and individuals
facing a layoff, including the latest information about extended health insurance benefits
available through a federal COBRA subsidy program.
The COBRA subsidy, authorized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2008, has been extended into 2010.
A resource guide for laid-off members has been updated for 2010. The guide includes information
about what to do when you lose your job, where you can turn for help and who you can
lean on in your union.
Visit www.usw.org/laidoff to download the guides and find other helpful information. You can
also get to the page by visiting the USW homepage at www.usw.org and clicking on the rotating
“laid-off” graphic.
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