Workers, Union Leaders, Call Out Park Slope Car Wash

More than 100 labor supporters marched through the streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn on sleepy midday on Sunday to show solidarity for workers at a neighborhood car wash. The eight workers of Vegas Auto Spa filed a federal lawsuit against their employer, and have been on strike for more than a month.

"We’ve been on strike for over a month now. The owner has closed, locked the door on us, and you know, we’re going to be on strike until the owner recognizes that we have a union here," said worker Luis Garcia, through an interpreter, Juan Goras. 

Workers filed a federal suit against the car wash last month, alleging they were paid less than minimum wage. The suit demands $600,000 in overtime and other back wages.

"They have not been paid minimum wage, they have not been paid overtime pay," said Stuart Appelbaum, head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

Owner Marat Leshehinsky denied the charges.

"This is a small business with nine employees that has paid them all of their hourly wages but now finds itself the target of an international union," attorney Stephen Hans, representing Leshehinsky, said in a statement. "This is just another example of the escalating costs of doing business in this city that is making it impossible for small businesses to survive and grow."

The car wash worker supporters, including members of New York Communities for Change, Make the Road New York, City Council members Brad Lander and Carlos Menchaca, and the RWDSU activists, also showed their solidarity with groups protesting Eric Garner’s killing by police in Staten Island.

"He died saying eleven times “I can’t breathe” and in solidarity we say eleven times, I can't breathe," said Bronx minister Danny Diaz.