Study: Car Wash Dirty Business

The Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has released a study, "Clean Cars, Dirty Work," of the Chicago car-wash business. The lead author of the study is LERA member Bob Bruno, the School of Labor and Employment Relations professor who is the director of the school's Labor Education Program, based in Chicago. Key findings:

• Three quarters of Chicago car wash employees, predominantly Latino immigrants, make less than the $8.25 Illinois minimum wage. Thirteen percent earned less than $2 per hour. One quarter earned less than the federal level of extreme poverty.
   
• One third of car wash workers 50-59 hours. One third worked 60-69 hours. Ten percent worked 70-79 hours.
   
• Working conditions were substandard and dangerous. Two thirds of the car washes did not provide their employees with clean drinking water or a meal break area separate from the car-wash area.

The Fox News Latino story, "Chicago Car Washes Abuse Immigrant Workers," quoted Bruno: "'The question to be answered is whether exploitative working conditions are the practices of a few 'bad apples' or if these standards are customary throughout the local industry.'"

The study's recommendations included increasing and improving government regulation of employment laws in car washes; providing special oversight of the Illinois car-wash industry; and supporting educational efforts about worker rights and health and safety training.

Read the Sept. 21 Chicago Tribune story, "Dirty Carwash Work Detailed: Low Pay, Long Hours."