47.8 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

NYC Appeals after Fed Court Rules Against Car Wash Law 

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

NYC has appealed a federal court decision not to allow a price hike on licenses for car washes using nonunion workforces over companies with unionized workers

NYC has appealed a federal court decision not to allow a price hike on licenses for car washes using nonunion workforces over companies with unionized workers. The ruling, handed down at the end of May, was a setback for the de Blasio administration as well as other proponents such as the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union, New York Communities for Change, and Make the Road New York. Since the inception of a 2015 law, a car wash may not operate without a license. Owners must obtain a license from the city, which includes a surety bond, ensuring that the company will have money available to pay employees back wages, should they be owed. The city proposed to charge unionized car washes $30,000 for the bond and nonunion shops a whopping $150,000.

A group of car washes, entitled The Association of Car Wash Owners, banded together suing the city in Manhattan Federal Court challenging Local Law 62 and arguing that they were essentially being forced to use unionized labor. Last month, their argument was accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The judge agreed that the law “explicitly encourages unionization” and that imposing a fivefold increase on the price of the license poses an unfair “penalty” on car wash companies where workers are not part of organized labor. “Pressuring businesses to unionize is impermissible under the National Labor Relations Act, as it inserts the city directly into labor-management bargaining,” Hellerstein’s ruling said. 

“It’s very, very well-established federal law that localities can’t take steps to interfere with the economic forces of whether a company will or will not unionize,” said Michael Cardozo, Former Law Department head, who argued on behalf of the car wash companies.

Labor advocates this week requested that the law regulating car washes to have a license should be preserved, even if the requirements concerning surety bonds are thrown out. But as per Crain’s NY, the de Blasio administration and the city want all of the law preserved. “The law’s bond provision affords needed protection to a particularly vulnerable workforce, and the city will vigorously work to keep it in place,” a Law Department spokesman said, expounding that the $150,000 bond requirement could be met with a cash outlay of as little as $1,500. “We do not believe that the law forces car washes to accept unions,” the spokesman said.

By: Helen Zaboulani

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -