NEW YORK — According to www.crainsnewyork.com, after a federal judge ruled a law regulating carwashes illegal, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is appealing the decision.
The judge ruled that the law was illegal because it charged nonunion carwashes a significantly higher price for a license than a unionized carwash, the article continued.
Passed in 2015, the law declared that carwashes could not legally operate without a license, the article noted; in order to get a license, however, carwashes would have to buy a surety bond — which would keep money available to employees, should they be owed any — at a price of $30,000 for unionized carwashes and $150,000 for nonunionized ones.
A collective of carwash owners sued, saying that the city was essentially forcing nonunion carwashes to bargain with workers and unionize since the price was so expensive, and Judge Alvin Hellerstein accepted their argument, the article stated.
While labor advocates have said that they want the regulation to go into effect even without the surety bond requirement, the city wants the entirety of the law preserved and enacted, the article noted.
“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, also stating 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 carwashes to accept unions,” the spokesman said.
Read the original article here.
