The Justice Will Be Served! Campaign: Sponsored by NMASS,
CSWA, and 318 RWU
Join women workers to demand justice
in New York City nail salons!
PRESS CONFERENCE & RALLY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH at 11:30 a.m.
at the 167 NAIL PLAZA salon, (located at 167
Amsterdam Avenue, btwn 67th & 68th Sts)
Dear Friends:
Come join us on September 16th to launch the JWBS's Nail Salon
Workers Network and to demand industry-wide change in nail salons
throughout the New York City and tri state area!
Here in New York City the nail salon industry is booming from
block to block, yet the conditions nail manicurists face are far
from pretty. The JWBS Nail Salon Network was sparked when a group
of workers at the 167 Nail Plaza and 68 Nail Plaza salons were
the first women to publicly stand up and expose the industry's
shocking and exploitative conditions. Susan Kim, a Korean-American
manicurist, was fired by Nail Plaza, Inc. owners Dong Rim Park
and Mou Ran Rim for simply requesting break time during the day.
Since then, her Chinese and Vietnamese co-workers have since joined
her in calling for proper meal and break times, healthier work
conditions, overtime pay, and an end to the retaliatory practices.
The example set by the Nail Plaza workers has paved the way for
other women from across the tri-state area to stand up for their
rights in an industry where women are routinely denied their basic
rights and are dangerously exposed to chemical nail products.
Many nail salon workers have reported serious skin and eye irritation,
respiratory illnesses, and even miscarriage and infertility among
the women stemming from prolonged exposure to acrylic powders
and chemical-based nail glues and gels in poorly ventilated environments.
In many salons, women workers are also prohibited from using the
bathroom, taking meal breaks, or even wearing masks or gloves
to protect themselves. Like the case of Nail Plaza, employers
often use the women's different ethnicity and immigration status
to keep them from coming together. Despite these increasing dangers,
the industry remains largely unregulated by any government agencies
and existing laws are not enforced. In addition, the majority
of shops do not abide by basic wage laws, failing to pay overtime
and sometimes minimum wage.
Now other women workers are standing together to make an example
of Nail Plaza and to demand change in the entire industry. We
hope you will join JWBS!'s Nail Salon Workers Network, along with
NYS elected officials Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, State Senator
Tom Duane, and City Councilmember Gale Brewer, Institute for Women
and Work at Cornell University, ILR School; and Bellevue Hospital,
on September 16th to kick off our campaign to call for:
1) Justice for the Nail Plaza workers
2) City-funding for a study and treatment program for nail salon
workers
3) Government regulations to protect workers in the nail salon
industry
For more information about the September 16th demonstration,
call us at (212) 334-2333.
