After years of organizing, Los Angeles carwash workers successfully negotiated contracts with three carwashes and gained workplace rights most workers should be able to take for granted: sick leave, access to health care, workplace safety, lunch breaks, living wages and respect.

The carwash workers were successful, in large part, through the strength of community-labor partnerships: the United Steelworkers teamed up with the Community Labor Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), faith-based groups such as Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice and low-income immigrant rights organizations such as the Wage Justice Center and Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance.

Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor:

There’s a whole network of organizations that believe in unionization, believe in workers’ rights that are coming together with the CLEAN Carwash workers across ethnic lines and really backing each other up.

In this video, Miguel, a carwash worker of 18 years, sees the power of community-labor partnerships in his experience organizing for workplace rights. Scroll down or click here to watch.

Learn more about the CLEAN Car Wash Campaign at www.cleancarwashla.org.