Queensboro Car Wash (Yelp)
June 7, 2019 By Max Murray
The New York State Assembly and Senate passed legislation this week that will guarantee car wash workers receive minimum wage in New York City, Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.
The bill, sponsored by Jessica Ramos in the senate, will reduce car wash workers’ dependence on tips to earn a living wage.
Under current law, car wash workers are classified as tipped workers, with the minimum wage being between $10.20 and $12.75 an hour in New York City. The assumption is that their income will be supplemented by gratuities.
The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday and Assembly Thursday, aims to make sure that car wash workers get the full minimum wage, which will increase to $15 an hour in the City by the end of the year.
Currently, even with tips, Ramos said car wash workers often earn less than the full minimum wage, with many required to work long and irregular hours to make a living. Some car wash owners don’t pass on all the tips anyway.
“Car wash workers across Queens have been underpaid for years, and rely on tips to make their living,” Ramos, who represents Senate District 13, said. “My bill will require that car wash workers are paid the minimum wage, which means they no longer have to rely on tips.”
Ramos said that there are between 200 and 300 car wash workers in her district– which covers areas such as Elmhurst, Corona and a section of Astoria– that will benefit should her bill become law.
The bill now awaits the signature of Governor Cuomo in order to become law.
10 Comments
$5 self-serve car washes available at some gas stations.
directly affects my well being – I’ll keep a dollar tip in my pocket now ))
If you’re so completely heartless and cheap that you can’t give a minimum wage worker ONE DOLLAR for your service you should wash your car at home and hire a financial advisor and a psychologist,
Much like McDonald’s, this isn’t a lifelong career. We’re now giving $15 an hour to people who aren’t providing any skilled labor and most likely won’t advance in the workforce much. No offense to anyone. Everyone deserves a fair wage. Maybe the City and state should have made a greater effort to slow down the pace at which building has been occurring across the city. This is why housing is so god damn expensive. Instead we penalize employers now.
The majority of those workers work off the books anyway. Other than the cashier and maybe one car washer no one else will benefit.
I wish you’d support our president. He said that not paying taxes “makes me smart”.
Say goodbye to those jobs.
Wondering why these non tipped workers get this & yet others don’t? Is it that more of their wages are stolen? Shouldn’t all workers make the “minimum” wage?
Considering most of the labor at car washes is from the illegal worker pool I don’t see how this is going to make much of a difference. The undocumented workers will still get their $60 to $100 plus a share of the tip jar for a 10 hour shift. This will just make it harder for citizens to get those jobs (high school students, folks deciding against going to college, people between regular jobs and just those down on their luck who need to pick up some extra income).
It wont be as cheap to get a car wash anymore but it’ll still be cheaper than states that use High School students and American Citizens to wash your car. Those Car washes charge you more like $50 just for a simple car wash!