The Car Wash King Pin
John Lage and the Poor Conditions in New York City's Car Wash Industry

Beginning in 2012, car wash workers across New York City are rising up and demanding living wages, predictable schedules, and protective gear against harmful chemicals from their employers and from industry giant John Lage. Based on first-hand observations by workers themselves, this report details workers voting to unionize, win decent wages, and live with dignity on the job. Follow the continued struggles of the Wash New York campaign, led by workers and their allies, as they illustrate the policies that New York City can adopt to improve the quality of jobs in the car wash industry so that workers who clean the cars of some of the richest people in the world don’t have to continue toiling in near poverty.

Executive Summary

Every day across New York City, thousands of vehicles roll into car washes owned by John Lage. These are the livery cars that shuttle Wall Street executives between meetings, the taxis that take West Village revelers back home after a night of drinking, and the cars and vans that transport people and goods across the city, helping our economy run. And they are being washed by workers who are living on the edges of poverty.

John Lage is New York’s Car Wash Kingpin, according to the Daily News. Together, he and his business associates own and operate eighteen of the city’s 200 or so car washes and employ about five hundred workers. We estimate these Lage car washes collectively bring in gross revenue of somewhere around $34 million every year. We believe Lage has profited enormously from his businesses, and has two waterfront homes in Eastchester and Queens that are worth millions of dollars.

In 2005, the United States Department of Labor filed a major lawsuit against him, alleging that he and 15 of his companies had “willfully and repeatedly” violated minimum wage and overtime law by failing to pay workers the money that they had earned. Through three consent judgments and a settlement, Lage eventually agreed to pay over $4.7 million in back wages, damages, and interest to more than 1,300 employees.

But even now, many of the employees working for Lage’s owned or operated car washes struggle to survive and support their families on the wages his companies pay: often only about $300-$400 a week. Their schedules are extremely erratic and unpredictable – workers can be sent home because of bad weather or slow business. These workers aren’t given health insurance or paid sick days, let alone any paid vacation every year. And workers are worried about their health and safety as they can be exposed to strong chemicals and do not always have the protective gear that they should.

Most offensive of all, New York City taxpayers are subsidizing Lage’s business model. It appears from official records that Lage’s car washes have received more than four hundred thousand dollars in contracts and sales from the New York City Police Department and other City agencies since 2007.

The terms and working conditions at car washes in the car wash industry across the city are too often deplorable.  The low pay, the erratic hours, the hard work and trying working conditions combine to create a dehumanizing environment for too many carwasheros. Because Lage is the biggest car wash operator in the City, the New York Daily News branded him the Car Wash Kingpin. Because of his size in the industry, we believe his companies could set a standard for the industry to emulate.

Beginning in 2012, car wash workers across New York City are rising up and demanding better treatment from their employers and from John Lage in particular. They’re voting to unionize, so they can speak with one voice, and win decent wages and dignity on the job. It’s time for John Lage to listen.

This report describes the Wash New York campaign that workers and their allies are leading to clean up the city’s car wash industry. It tells the story of John Lage’s treatment of his companies’ workers and gives a window into their continuing struggles. Based on first-hand observations by workers themselves, it estimates the annual gross revenue of Lage’s businesses. It also shows the intricate web of companies that he and his associates have erected to operate their businesses. And it describes the policies that New York City can adopt to improve the quality of jobs in the car wash industry so that the workers who clean the cars of some of the richest people in the world don’t have to continue toiling in near poverty.