Growing up in the Bronx, one of the most exciting portions of an otherwise unbearable day with my father running errands was our inevitable trip to the car wash. I would ask for us to stay in the car as the conveyor belt carried us through the huge wipers and brushes. I never gave much thought to the men who manually dried the car once we exited this fantastical vortex of water and soap however. But these men, in all likelihood were either undocumented immigrants, underpaid, overworked, or all of the above.

Even though they work just as hard as their citizen counterparts and contribute to our local economy, they are unfairly treated and work under unacceptable conditions. This is wrong. Stronger regulation on business owners who break the law, greater protection for workers who unionize, and increased solidarity across low-wage industries will help these “washeros” and immigrant workers like them in their struggle to be treated fairly under the law.

Make the Road NY, New York Communities for Change, and car wash workers across the city have launched a campaign to demand protections for workers in the industry. In September, a Queens carwash voted to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union; making them the first of the city’s estimated 200 car washes to unionize. And in the Bronx, Webster Car Wash voted to do the same this past October. The fight to unionize has continued throughout the month of November as well. Recently, washeros at Sunny Day Car Wash on Third Avenue went on strike for unpaid wages, winning the right to continually protest in front of their car wash from a Bronx Supreme Court judge.

Enforcement agencies also play a role in ensuring fair treatment. This past summer, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman successfully prosecuted a car wash owner in Mt. Eden to pay $150,000 in restitution to workers and serve jail time with three years probation. The owner was paying his workers an illegal $4 an hour with no overtime for 12-hour days and six-day weeks. We need similar efforts by our respective labor and law-enforcement agencies to ensure that business owners who break the law know that they cannot do so with impunity.

Solidarity is another important part of the puzzle. Other industries with high percentages of immigrant workers who use car washes frequently, like cab drivers, can exercise some of their consumer power and not patronize car washes that mistreat their workers. Framing this issue as an attack against all low-income immigrant workers might encourage other organizations to join the campaign and pool much needed resources to put collective pressure on car wash owners using illegal business practices.

Just because a worker is undocumented, does not mean that they are not entitled to protection under the law. Immigrant workers not only wash our cars, they provide an array of food services, take care of our children, and clean our schools; all of which keeps our communities running on a daily basis. As fast-food employees throughout the city also move to have their rights recognized, let’s continue to support our immigrant workers who deserve equal legal protection.

–Zellnor Myrie is an Urban Studies graduate student at Fordham University, former City Council aide, and current executive board member for the Bronx Young Democrats.

Editor’s note: A version of this opinion piece was originally published in the Feb. 7-20, 2013 print edition of the Norwood News. The views of the author do not reflect the opinion of the Norwood News.