GET A CARWASH AT THE FIRST UNION CARWASH IN THE NATION!

(Hi everyone, when I take my girls out to the Santa Monica Pier this month here's where I'm going to get my car washed  -- Ray)

Victory for Carwasheros –Now You Can Get a CLEAN Carwash!

October 25, 2011 was an historic moment for carwash workers in Los Angeles – after years of fighting the deplorable workplace conditions, workers have finally secured their first union contract. The agreement, with Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, marks the first contract won by the CLEAN (Community Labor Environmental Action Network) Campaign and makes Los Angeles County home to the only unionized carwash in the country.

It’s a tide-change for the carwash industry, which has allowed its workers to suffer in the shadows for decades. Workers all across LA are speaking out against the conditions in the industry- such as pay that’s as low as $35 for a 10-hour day and exposure to toxic chemicals without protective gear – and they need the support of consumers and community members. 

Under the terms of the new agreement, workers at Bonus will become official members of the United Steelworkers. The contract includes a wage increase, health and safety protections, and grievance and arbitration procedures to resolve problems. The contract also provides important protections for immigrant workers, including ensuring that workers are given time to address immigration-related issues and that work rules are translated if workers are monolingual in a language other than English.  It also establishes rights that protect workers from being unfairly punished or dismissed. These might seem like common-sense protections, but they’ve been entirely absent from the carwash industry for decades.  

On the 25^th of October, carwasheros stood with their community partners, local labor leaders, and elected officials at Bonus to sign this historic contract. It was an incredible day, but there’s still work to do.  [Insert your orgs involvement and plan to help. Ex) Our Union has been involved in this fight since the beginning and we will be there until the end.  It is our job to make sure that Bonus remains a successful model carwash]. Most importantly, we need to make sure consumers in Los Angeles know exactly where to get their car washed. We are launching campaigns to send conscious consumers to Bonus Car Wash (located at 2800 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica), the only union carwash in California!

Until union contracts for fair conditions are commonplace in the carwash industry, instead of unprecedented, our work is cut out for us. We hope you’ll join our fight. To support the efforts of these carwasheros, we are asking you to:

1. Patronize this only unionized car wash in the nation - Bonus Car Wash, 2800 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405 (at Ashland). Take your own car in for a union wash and print out this email to use this $3 off coupon, so Bonus can track how much business they’re getting from CLEAN supporters. 

Print this out and it will be honored.

2. Yelp it! After you wash your car, please sign into yelp and share your thoughts.  Here’s the link:  http://www.yelp.com/writeareview

3.  Encourage your family members, friends, coworkers and congregants to patronize Bonus Car Wash and print out copies of this coupon for all of them!  

Your actions will go a long way in showing other car wash owners that having a unionized workforce, paying decent wages and providing healthy working conditions is good for business and good for our communities.