Lede: The AFL-CIO is out to clean up California car washes. Doug Cunningham explains.

It’s a campaign by workers assisted by the AFL-CIO just launched to clean up the car wash industry in Los Angeles. A community-labor-environmental coalition called the CLEAN network says there are widespread and rampant violations of labor laws in addition to a blatant disregard of health and safety regulations in L.A.’s big car wash industry. A report released by the Car Wash Organizing Committee of the United Steelworkers documents these violations.
The owners of these Los Angeles area car washes are operating below the radar of labor, environmental, health and safety laws, according to the union. Car wash workers are often illegally paid less than minimum wage, in some cases forced to work just for tips. Many of the workers don’t speak English and are not given gear to
Protect them from hazardous chemicals used at car washes.