The Justice Will Be Served! Campaign
Sponsored by:
Chinese Staff & Workers Association • National Mobilization
Against Sweatshops • 318 Restaurant Workers Union
Endorsed by: (list in formation) Manhattan Borough President
Scott Stringer, Senator Eric Schneiderman, Assemblymember Linda
Rosenthal, Councilmember Gale Brewer, NYC Central Labor Council,
AFL-CIO, UAW Region 9A, Community Free Democrats, Park River Independent
Democrats, Industrial Workers of the World
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2008
For More Info, Contact:
Josephine Lee / David Tieu (212)334-2333
Day of (917) 439-3748
Press Advisory
Nail Salon Workers Condemn Toxic Working Conditions Endured
in Basement of NYC Salon
Joined by Asian and Latina nail stylists throughout the tri-state
area
to demand end to widespread abuses and health problems in beauty
industry
Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 12:30pm
In front of Belle World Beauty, Inc.
17 West 125th Street, Manhattan
between Lenox Avenue and 5th Avenue
2/3 Train to 125th Street stop
This Thursday, women workers from the Belle World Beauty nail
salon, along with members of the Justice Will Be Served! Campaign,
will come together to condemn the sweatshop conditions they endured
while employed at the popular Harlem beauty locale. Not only did
Belle World Beauty owners, Pui F. Chang and Kok Lim Tsung, make
the women work over ten hours a day, six days a week with no breaks
or overtime pay, but the workers were also forced to toil in the
salon's basement where there were no windows or other proper ventilation.
For months, the women were forced to breathe in dangerous toxins
from the nail products, causing them to have respiratory and even
serious urological problems. When the women complained together
about the poor air quality and demanded to be paid overtime, the
employer fired the workers in retaliation.
The Belle World Beauty workers will be joined by many other Asian
and Latina nail stylists from salons throughout the city as well
as in Long Island and Connecticut suburbs, where nail salons and
their deplorable conditions are spreading. Together Asian and
Latina women are forming a multiracial coalition to demand an
end to the widespread abuses they endured in the industry including
toxic work environments, sexual harassment, no meal or bathroom
breaks, retaliation for speaking out, firings of young mothers
for taking time off to care for their sick children, and racist
treatment. They will be joined by supporting elected officials,
community organizations, and workers from other service industries.
# # #
Justice Will Be Served! Campaign
c/o CSWA, P.O. Box 130293 , New York , NY 10013-0995 ;
Phone: (212) 334-2333 Fax: (212) 334-1974 Email: cswa@cswa.org
Justice Will Be Served! (JWBS) is a campaign that unites restaurant,
hotel, deli, and other service workers in different communities
across New York to fight against long hours, second-class wages,
stolen tips and other sweatshop conditions.
JWBS! is a coalition of organizations: 318 Restaurant Workers
Union , Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, National Mobilization
Against Sweatshops
