STOCKTON, CA — The fight for fair treatment and wages for carwash workers at California-based carwashes, in particular those owned by Benny and Nisan Pirian, has gotten a lot of media attention, but there are carwashes throughout the state that have and continue to treat their employees fairly and ethically, The Record reported.

The Nov. 23 story reported on several carwashes, including the Stockton Auto Center Car Wash & Lube, where Cipriano Diaz is happily employed. "It's good work. They pay us fairly,” he said in the story.

Investigators from the Labor Commissioner's Office conducted a statewide sweep of carwashesin October and handed out over $900,000 in fines and at least 76 citations for unlicensed carwash businesses. Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations, said in the story, "It is one of our targeted industries that we focus on. It's better for competition, it's better for employees and it erodes away the underground economy."

Chris Buscaglia, vice president of the Western Carwash Association and owner of two carwashes including Auto Center Car Wash & Lube, said the statewide sweep has been a double edged sword. "We endorse it in the sense that it keeps people fair and honest, but at the same time, we don't really like more regulation. All you had to do was simply enforce the rules that were already there,” he said in the story.

No violations were found at any of Buscaglia’s washes.

Marcela Ruiz, directing attorney for the Stockton office of California Rural Legal Assistance, said in the story, "In a lot of the industries where they pay substandard wages, I don't think it's a coincidence that most of the employees are immigrants. I think the labor commissioner going out and doing the sweeps they've done is helpful, because they have the investigative powers to go out and ensure that labor laws are being respected."

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