Los Angelenos may be the most auto-obsessed people on the planet (see Carmaggedon), but most of the time we turn a blind eye toward the people who actually clean our cars—and their routinely terrible working conditions.

The 10,000 car wash workers working at more than 500 car washes in Los Angeles are routinely excluded from the labor protections most Angelenos enjoy. Car wash workers, or carwasheros, are paid less than minimum wage-- in some cases they earn only tips instead of real wages. They’re often expected to handle toxic chemicals without wearing masks and gloves. They usually don’t get the work breaks that the In-N-Out employees across the street take for granted.
And when they raise their voices against these substandard conditions, they’re often subjected to harassment and retaliation by management. Sometimes their work hours are cut or they’re fired to intimidate the remaining car wash staff.
But today, about 30 car wash workers announced a union contract with Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica. The CLEAN Carwash campaign, which helped organize the workers and coordinate the contract, says that the terms of the contract aren’t extravagant: car wash owners are simply agreeing to abide by state labor law regarding working conditions, like work breaks and when workers can clock in. It also provides a procedure for hearing workers' grievances. And it requires any future owners to abide by the contract, so the improved working conditions will remain even if the car wash changes ownership.
“It was a two-year struggle,” said Eduardo Tapia, a longtime employee of Bonus Car Wash. “We have 10 more minutes of break. We have our water to drink. If they say show up at work at 10:30, I start work at 10:30.”
The ACLU of Southern California has supported the CLEAN Carwash campaign’s efforts since its inception in 2008. We’ve helped organize the car wash workers, aided the contract negotiation process, and rallied our full membership for support.
This small union gives Los Angeles the distinction of being home to the first unionized car wash in the country. But it won’t be the last.

“I wish sometimes that I had died in Iraq. So that my life would have meant something.” Robert Rissman is a 22-year old Iraq combat veteran who returned from Iraq with undiagnosed PTSD. As Robert struggled to cope with his disability, he became one of 8,000 homeless veterans living on the streets of Los Angeles.
Robert’s story was told on a CNN featured segment last night. It also describes the lawsuit we filed in June against the Department of Veterans Affairs for its failure to ensure that struggling veterans like Robert have meaningful access to the mental health, medical, and other services they deserve.
Our society has a responsibility to take care of vets like Robert after they finish their service to our country, and we rely on the VA to make good on that commitment. The VA is supposed to support veterans and prevent veteran homelessness. It’s also supposed address the underlying conditions that lead to veteran homelessness, and provide stable housing and care while veterans get back on their feet.
The VA’s failure to provide housing and care that even its own experts recognize is necessary for homeless veterans with serious mental disabilities is even more scandalous in LA because the VA is also mismanaging a 387-campus that was given the federal government for the express purpose of providing a home to disabled veterans.  Instead of housing veterans, the VA has housed rental cars, commercial bus storage lots, and a luxury hotel laundry facility.

Spread the word about this story, about the case, about this issue, and about the VA's mismanagement of the West Los Angeles VA campus. Call your local congressperson, Senator Feinstein, or the veterans affairs committees in Congress, and demand that they hold congressional hearings to get to the bottom of this scandal.
On average, 18 veterans kill themselves each day, so the VA's delay tactics here are costing lives.