Union-backed car wash workers fight for more pay, shade

By Margot Roosevelt / Staff Writer, Orange County Register

Jose Rolando Cuestas, a 34-year-old Honduran immigrant, worked for 10 years washing cars. ((

“From eight in the morning until seven at night, I was paid $35 a day,” he recalled, fingering a rosary around his neck. It was less than half the legal minimum wage. He was fired for complaining.

Today, Cuestas is training to organize other “carwasheros,” as they call themselves, to fight for better pay and benefits. “We must unite,” he said in his native Spanish, “or we will be mistreated” … more