Latina Nail Salon Workers Call for
Boycott of Renaissance Nail Salons

Nail Salons located at:
887 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT
11 Forest Street, New Canaan, CT

Latina women working in the popular Renaissance nail salons were subjected to sexual harassment, racial discrimination, sweatshop conditions and stolen wages and tips.

Sexual Harassment:

• Young Soo Kwon, the married male owner, forced some of the Latina workers to massage him and male clients in a back room and touched them inappropriately every day.

Racial Discrimination:

• The Korean owners discriminated against the Latina workers by paying them less and making them work more than the Asian women working in the salon. The owners singled the Latina workers out for harassment by forcing them to take shorter meal and bathroom breaks than their Asian counterparts, often knocking on the bathroom door and demanding they return to work.

Exposed to Dangerous Chemicals and Other Sweatshop Conditions:

• The Latina workers were forced to work long hours, bent over, with no protection from dangerous, toxic chemicals. The workers now suffer from respiratory and skin problems -- others have had back pains and kidney infections as a result of their work at the salons. The Latina workers were also not paid minimum wage or overtime, and their tips were stolen.

Fired for Being Mothers:

• When two of the Latina women asked for a day off to care for their sick children, they were fired, even though they had found workers to replace them. One of the Korean bosses told a Latina worker: “What's more important to you? Your children or your job?”

Join us to demand that Renaissance Nail Salon owners
Jennifer Kwon, Young Soo Kwon and Hyeon Lee:

1. Pay these workers the overtime and minimum wage they are owed and compensation for the economic, physical and mental suffering they experienced.
2. End the sexual harassment and sweatshop conditions in their salons.
3. Publicly apologize for their treatment of these workers.

Sponsored by: National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, Unidad Latina en Acción, JUNTA for Progressive Action, and the Justice Will Be Served! Campaign

Contact: NMASS: (212) 358-0295 | nmass@yahoo.com | www.nmass.org

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