FLUSHING CAR WASH WORKERS OUST
UNION OFFICIALS FROM WORKPLACE
IN SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS AWARDED ANNUALLY
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 26 - DEC. 2, 2021 9
BY BILL PARRY
For much of the past decade,
the “Carwasheroes” of
Queens became a cause célèbre
for state, city and local
officials siding with workers
for fair pay and workplace
safety commitments from
car wash owners.
Workers at the Jomar
Car Wash in Flushing, now
known as Main Street Car
Wash, reached a deal to
unionize in 2013 under the
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union (RWDSU)
but have since reversed
course.
With free legal assistance
from National Right to Work
Foundation staff attorneys,
employees at Main Street
Car Wash have successfully
forced RWDSU union officials
out of their workplace.
Last month, Main Street
Car Wash employee Ervin
Par submitted a petition
signed by enough of his coworkers
to prompt the National
Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) to conduct an employee
vote on whether to
oust the union.
The NLRB is the federal
agency responsible for enforcing
private-sector labor law
and for adjudicating disputes
between employers, unions
and individual workers. This
marks the second time Par
has led his coworkers in attempting
to oust RWDSU officials
after he sought National
Right to Work Foundation legal
aid in 2018 with an earlier
petition for a union decertification
vote.
“They just come and collect
their fees, but I don’t
see an economic benefit
from the union,” Par said
at the time. “Among my colleagues,
there’s a majority
that doesn’t want the union.”
He added that because
New York is a state lacking
in Right to Work protections
for its private-sector workers,
Par and his coworkers were
forced to pay just to keep their
jobs. In Right to Work states,
all union financial support is
strictly voluntary.
Union officials were able
to stifle that employee request
by filing so-called
“blocking charges” at the
NLRB.
This time, RWDSU leaders
avoided facing an employee
vote by submitting paperwork
disclaiming interest in
continuing control over the
facility last week, thus avoiding
an NLRB-administered
decertification vote, according
to the National Right to
Work Foundation.
QNS reached out to the
RWDSU and is waiting for a
response.
“Mr. Par and his coworkers
persevered for almost
three years to end RWDSU
union officials’ grip on power
in their workplace,” National
Right to Work Foundation
President Mark Mix
said. “Although we’re glad
the employees have finally
been able to exercise their
right to remove RWDSU from
their workplace, union officials
never should have been
able to manipulate the rules
to stifle the decertification
effort for so long.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
Elected leaders such as state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky backed
workers at the Jomar Car Wash in Flushing to unionize. Now
those workers have rejected union officials after a three-year
effort. QNS fi le photo
BEST NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
BEST BUSINESS
SCHOOL
THE PRINCETON REVIEW
BEST NORTHEASTERN
UNIVERSITY
THE PRINCETON REVIEW
APPLY TODAY AT LIU.EDU/APPLY
/QNS.COM
/schnepsmedia.com
/APPLY
