Our Mission & Purpose

There are over 500 carwashes in the Los Angeles area and approximately 10,000 carwash workers. The carwash industry has become part of the underground economy of Los Angeles and other cities in California, with many carwashes failing to abide by basic labor and health and safety law. Los Angeles carwashes have been equated to the modern day sweatshop.

The following are common practices throughout the industry

• Failure to pay minimum wage
• Failure to pay overtime
• Failure to provide rest and meal breaks
• Failure to provide drinking water
• Failure to provide proper equipment to workers who are exposed to highly toxic chemicals

Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) is committed to improving the lives of working class families throughout California including the greater Los Angeles area. Together the Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC) and CLEAN work to support carwash workers standing up for their rights, improve health and safety protections for workers and help keep our water and environment clean.

The CLEAN Carwash Campaign is a joint effort between CLEAN and CWOC of the United Steel Workers. CLEAN is a diverse coalition of immigrant rights, legal, and labor organizations.

The Community Advisory Board is made up of many of the organizations that advocate for immigrant workers in Los Angeles, including: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), the Korea-town Immigrant Worker Association (KIWA), Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur the California (IDEPSCA), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), Enlace and the Wage Justice Center. Click here to see the full list of CLEAN Members and Allies.

Community-Based Advocacy

Carwasheros are real people with families to care for and they exist within communities that are often held down by an unfair economy. Thus our work extends into regular advocacy in the areas of low-wage worker justice, environmental health and safety and comprehensive immigration reform. Workers are able to take the opportunity to learn and use advocacy tools for improving their lives and those of their neighbors.

Campaign History

For 7 years, the CLEAN Carwash Campaign has uncovered extreme conditions in carwashes.

The CLEAN Carwash Campaign has quickly demonstrated through collective action and civic engagement that workers can impact conditions across a deeply exploitative industry. In 2011 workers from Bonus Carwash, in the City Santa Monica, ratified the first union contract in the entire country for carwash workers. Shortly after, workers from Vermont Carwash in South LA followed their footsteps and ratified the second union contract for carwash workers. 3 years later, Los Angeles has become home to 20 union carwashes. Many of these sites are in South LA.

Employers now recognize that the CLEAN Carwash Campaign is a force to be reckoned with, and that it is no longer easy to exploit workers without consequence as they are being watched by workers who know their rights and are backed by a powerful network of community supporters and a union.

Over a year ago carwash workers, or carwasheros, made it clear that they wanted to have a place where they could come together to improve their lives, those of other workers and their neighborhoods. Many of the workers that had been organizing from years lived and work in South LA.