Dear Friend,

 

Today we report back to you and look forward to our nail salon campaign. We are nearing almost one year ago when nail salons were shut down as part of the New York State lockdown order on March 20, 2020. One hundred percent of our 1,400 worker members were out of a job in one fell swoop. Salons opened back up officially in July again, but still the effects of the pandemic remain. Our members took matters into their own hands to look out for another and mobilize their peers with our staff. Together, we:

  • Continued and actively ran the “Nail Salon Workers Association,” led under the guidance of a 14 worker member leader Steering Committee. The association became a safety net for many members, supporting each other with licensing needs, emergency relief funds, food and PPE distribution, and health and safety trainings,
  • Surveyed almost 300 nail salon workers on their current situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how workplace conditions have changed. From these findings we have already begun to map out how the industry may be shifting, and we hope to use this information to inform our policy and campaigns in the coming years to rebuild a better industry,
  • Engaged over 70 Nepali-speaking nail salon employers from the community, through regular meetings, 1 on 1 support in collaboration with Business Outreach Center, Chhaya CDC and BCNA and guidance on building a “High Road” salon. Our High Road strategy seeks to develop women, worker-turned-owner salons in our community to center workers’ rights and also succeed as small businesses. Through this approach, our goal is to create a pathway for economic upliftment for workers and incentivize employers to take on pro-worker practices,   
  • Successfully negotiated more expansive reopening guidelines with the NY Department of Labor and governor’s office during the pandemic to ensure better worker protection, with our coalition partners. In this process, we engaged our Steering Committee in giving direct feedback on the State’s initial proposed guidelines, and also facilitated a discussion with our owners group on concerns they had on reopening,
  • Developed a new digital Health and Safety training curriculum through members’ feedback, material from partners like NYCOSH and the California Collaborative, along with COVID-19 safety guidelines from the state. We trained 55 worker members over individual 25 sessions,
  • Conducted our first-ever digital Peer Educator Mental Health training series with the Worker Association’s Steering Committee, to develop worker leaders’ counseling skills,

Through our COVID-19 Response Plan and the survey of our nail salon members, we have adapted our campaign to ensure that the nail salon industry that will emerge from the pandemic will be a stronger one: This year we will:

  • Conduct the first ever digital nail salon 26 hour licensing course series, through our partnership with NYCOSH, led by our Nail Salon Worker Association Steering Committee members Rajeswori Nakarmi and Maya Bhusal Basnet. We will conduct three courses before June and train 50 new worker members on topics like health & safety and workers rights.,
  • Conduct integrated COVID-19 health and safety trainings for 100 to 150 worker members with our national partner the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative and through the NYCOSH Beauty School,
  • Create a cohort of trainers from our member leadership to lead future trainings for the Workers Association, including health & safety, licensing course and other peer educator trainings.
  • Continue advocating for policy at the state level to protect workers and raise industry standards through the Nail Salon Accountability Act, and explore other legislative opportunities to create sector-wide reform.
  • Build out the membership of our Nail Salon Workers’ Association to ensure our programs reach more technicians and mobilize our members for the State campaigns..  

Our nail salon worker members are movers and shakers of our community. We are innovating new pathways alongside our members on how to rebuild an industry in NY that is worker-centered and ensures the success of ALL. Donate to Adhikaar today to ensure that we continue to move this work forward. 

Stay tuned for our next email on Adhikaar’s case work and health access programs.

 

In Solidarity,

 

Pabitra Khati Benjamin,

Executive Director, Adhikaar