Posted on 03/21/2008 1:52:42 PM PDT by World_Events
A team of state inspectors strode into the Blue Wave Car Wash in West Los Angeles, past latte-sipping customers in electric massage chairs and into the gritty carwash tunnel.
"¿Cuánto gana usted?" the inspectors asked worker after worker, about 20 of them, most Latino immigrants. How much do you make? Each carwashero responded that he earned minimum wage or more -- just as the owner of the Blue Wave, one of the region's busiest carwashes, had told the inspectors.
Looking over payroll records, however, the regulators became suspicious. Employees who said they were full time were listed as working just 10 or 15 hours a week.
Inspector Martha Mendoza ushered Juan Cruz Santiago, a small man with salt-and-pepper hair, away from the others. During gentle questioning under a ficus tree, he admitted that most days, he and his 66-year-old father worked for tips only. So did nearly half the other employees, he said. It had been that way for at least six years.
"It's bad," the 41-year-old Oaxacan immigrant whispered to Mendoza, his eyes darting nervously toward his boss' office. "Other carwashes are the same, no?"
Many are. A Times investigation has found that hand carwashes, automotive beauty shops patronized by tens of thousands of Southern California motorists every day, often brazenly violate basic labor and immigration laws, with little risk of penalty.
Half or more of carwash owners flout the minimum-wage law, estimated David Dorame, the longtime lead investigator for low-wage industries at California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
Despite many undocumented workers' reluctance to complain to authorities, employees at a fifth of Southern California's carwashes in the last five years have formally accused owners of illegally underpaying them, The Times found.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Gee, I wonder how they pay for their food, housing, healthcare and education for their kids? /s
Why, these poor, poor, people! How cruel! I can’t bear it, so I’m going to offer the solution to their misery. Arrest them and deport them. Then fine the employers so heavily that it becomes worth their while to hire legal immigrants and U.S. citizens.
Slavery is alive and well, I see. Only difference between now and “then” is that “then”, the slaveowners paid their servants’ living expenses themselves; today’s slavemasters dump the expense onto their neighbors.
Illegal immigration does exploit the illegal immigrants.
So the crime cuts both ways..it also exploits american workers who get lower wages and pay the taxes to support the illegals. It is a loss for everyone..except the employers.
That’s a problem?
Tell you what – I worked as a limousine driver and also worked as a valet at a casino. I can’t tell you how many times a customer from a wedding, bachelor party, bachelorette party, prom gig, or other, gave me a $150 tip or more.
That’s way more than I made hourly (even at minimum wage) working for the company.
On three occasions at the casino some guy flipped me a $500 chip. $100 chips weren’t uncommon (though it didn’t happen every day) and $50 or $20 chips were pretty routine.
That beats the S out of “minimum wage.”
Time to get the government out of private employment issues. That includes establishing a minimum wage. If they want to control egress and ingress WRT other nationalities, do it. Otherwise step back or cry in your beer when businesses flee to countries that don’t try to hamstring employers and have them do the federal government’s work on their behalf for free – particularly when they’re paying top-dollar for the “privilege.”
That’s how that’s going to work. Just watch.
"Carwashero" is taking Spanglish just a wee bit too far.
There were few English speaking people around. I doubt they were paid better then.
btt
Until enforcement of immigration and employment laws becomes a credible deterrent to cheating, employers will continue to depend on illegal labor.
Tough working for tips. Maybe they should find work at home.
oooo... you might not ever get rich
but tell you it’s better digging a ditch
there aint no telling who you might meet
a moviestar or maybe even a pennyache
working at the carwash
working at the carwash yeeh
come on and sing it with me
carwash
sing it with the feeling now
carwash yeah
come some of the work gets kind of hard
this aint no place to be if you planned on being a star
let me tell you it’s always cool
and the boss dont mind somethimes if you act a fool
At the carwash wooh
talking about the carwash yeah
come on y’all and sing it for me
car wash woh
car wash yeah
work and work
well those cars never seem to stop coming
work, and work
keep those waggons and machines coming
work and work my fingers to the bone
work and work
keep up, i can’t wait till it’s time to go home
hey, get your car washed today
be in our band, you don’t have to pay
come on and give us a play.
get it washed right away
At the carwash
talking about the carwash yeah
come on y’all and sing it for me
car wash woh
car wash yeah
wowowo
those cars never seem to stop coming
keeps those rags and machines coming
let me tell you it’s always cool,
and the boss don’t mind sometimes if you, act the fool
Ping!
Bttt!
On three occasions at the casino some guy flipped me a $500 chip. $100 chips weren’t uncommon (though it didn’t happen every day) and $50 or $20 chips were pretty routine.Yea those car wash guys are knocking 'em dead with all those $500-$100-$150-$50 tips thrown at them...Isn't that what everyone tips at the Car wash?...Just like everyone at the casinos.
just doing the jobs Americans won’t do....for slave wages...
Your Las Vegas life story is irrelevant.
If you read the article you’ll find they are supposed to be paid minimum wage under California law. This law was circumvented
Only question left— is the employer American or a legal Hispanic immigrant-——>>>>>
“Many of the business owners are legal immigrants from Asia and the Middle East. Kevin Kish, an attorney with Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit agency that provides low-wage workers free legal help, said the new owners often brought from their homelands a cavalier attitude toward the law and a tendency to treat workers almost”
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