Labor & Employment
Working at the Car Wash Can Be Criminal, LA City Attorney Says
Posted Feb 11, 2009 12:11 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Dozens of Los Angeles employees aren't singing the praises of working at the car wash.
In fact, it's a sweatshop situation for many that resembles indentured servitude, says City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. He has filed criminal charges against three men, accusing two brothers, Benny and Nissan Pirian, of systemic labor law violations at four family-owned car washes. If convicted, they face as much as 80 years in jail and more than $100,000 in fines, reports the New York Times.
Workers at the car washes say they weren't paid minimum wage or overtime and didn't receive medical care for cuts and burns caused by machinery and chemicals at the car washes. Their breaks and access to drinking water were severely limited, according to the criminal complaint.
Benny Pirian declined to comment; the newspaper apparently couldn't reach his brother. The third man charged is Manuel Reyes, a manager who is accused by prosecutors of attempting to intimidate workers who tried to form a union. He says the charges against him aren't true but otherwise declined to discuss them.

Comments
J.D.
Feb 11, 2009 12:34 PM CST
Illegal immigration is the key issue here—not that the “imm” word appears anywhere in the NYT piece.
By advocating open borders and non-enforcement of immigration laws, the NY Times, ABA, LaRaza, AILA basically condone and create this type of exploitation.
This is exactly why Big Business wants open borders—so they can exploit cheap labor.
Unfortunately, the “pro-immigrant” crowd is anything but.
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B. McLeod
Feb 11, 2009 1:18 PM CST
They got that heavily depressin’ low-down, mind-messin’ workin’-at-the-carwash blues.
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