Introducing the Healthy Nail Salon Network

For the first time since being placed under the microscope, New York nail salon owners addressed the core problems that exist at the establishments they operate.

The owners were joined by New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-Queens), and business leaders and advocacy groups from across New York City to launch the “Healthy Nail Salon Network”. The immediate fixes and long-term solutions from this network comes on the heels of many private meetings led by the Korean American Nail Association of New York, the Korean American Association of Greater New York, Asian Americans for Equality, and The New York Asian Women’s Center.

The meetings were held in the wake of the New York Times, followed by other media, reporting on practices in New York’s salon industry.

These efforts were led by Mr. Sang-Ho Lee, President of the Korean American Nail Association of New York; Ms. Minsun Kim, President of the Korean American Association of Greater New York; Chris Kui, Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality; and Larry Lee, Executive Director of The New York Asian Women’s Center.

After recent reports by the New York Times on the poor working conditions at the nail salons in the New York City area, the Governor has taken various measures to address problems related to health or labor violations. To be proactive, this network today is requesting the local, state, and federal governments to dig deeper and work with the nail salon businesses in getting to the root of the problem:

1. Bad Players: Just like any other industry, there are business owners who are intentionally exploiting workers to maximize their own profit and will cut every corner, including violating health codes. These bad players contribute to the pricing gaps and to the exploitation of workers.

2. Exploitable Workforce: There is a demand for cheap labor but a scarcity of documented workers who are willing to work for minimum wage in nail salons. As a result, just like many service-oriented industries, there are thousands of undocumented workers in the nail salon industry who are not paid fairly. These workers are particularly vulnerable since most of them seek positions that do not require them to be on-record and prefer to be paid in cash.

3. Pricing Gaps: The pricing of manicures and pedicures do not match the actual cost to produce those services in NYC. In order for an average Manhattan-based nail salon to fully comply with all labor and health regulations, that business must charge an average of 25% higher (from $20 to $25) for a regular manicure and 33% higher (from $60 to $80) for a pedicure to break even as a business. For an outer-borough nail salon, they must charge about 67% higher (from $9 to $15) for a regular manicure and 100% higher (from $20 to $40) for a regular pedicure. As long as customers continue to seek nail salons with cheaper prices, the market will always race to the bottom, creating more illegal labor practices and making it impossible for good players to survive.

Led by the Korean American Nail Salon Association, who represents the interest of more than 3,000 nail salon businesses in New York, nail salons will take immediate action by:

1. Working closely with the United States Department of Labor, New York Governor’s Task Force on Nail Salons and New York City Department of Consumer Affairs;

2. Creating a “code of conduct for nail salons” manual with the Department of Labor that promotes inter-community growth;

3. Posting a state-certified “good business” label that nail salons can display on stores for being in compliance with health and labor practices; and

4. Collaborating with community-based groups like Asian Americans for Equality, Make the Road, and The New York Asian Women’s Center to address the challenges in our community like hiring undocumented workers, finding quality job placements for immigrants and fixing pricing gaps of nail salon products.

“As a son of immigrant parents who once operated nail salons in Manhattan, I’ve seen first hand the challenges for both owners and workers at these businesses,” stated Assemblyman Ron Kim. “I believe we need go beyond the punitive sanctions against these community-based small businesses in order to actually address the core problems behind these stores. We need to educate the owners and workers of their rights and we need the consumers to accept the higher pricing points of an average manicure and pedicure in this state. The business leaders in our community has stepped up to these challenges and are willing to find ways to transform the nail salon industry so everyone, from customer to manicurist, can co-exist in a safe and fair environment.”

Congresswoman Grace Meng stated: “The solutions laid out today to fix the problems that exist at nail salons are critical to ensuring that the nail salon industry is operating above board and not violating the rights of workers. Nail salons, just like all other small business, play an important role in our city’s economy, and increasing education and creating measures like ‘good business’ labels and a code of conduct, are key improvements to making sure these establishments are successful while not violating health or labor laws.

Although challenges exist, I believe that progress can be made, and I thank the industry’s stakeholders and advocacy groups for stepping up to the plate to address these problems head-on. I also thank the New York Times and other media for shedding light on the practices that exist in the nail salon industry as well as all the organizations that worked tirelessly to help make the new Healthy Nail Salon Network possible. In addition to the groups listed below, I want to thank the National Asian Pacific Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), New York Healthy Nail Salon Coalition and Adhikaar for their years of work on this issue.”

Sang-Ho Lee, President of Korean American Nail Association of New York, stated: “As the leading organization that represents over 3,000 nail stores in New York, we are committed to working with our elected officials and government agencies to fix short-term issues and long-term problems facing nail salons. We have a number of challenges ahead of us but thousands of immigrant workers depend on us getting this right.”

Minsun Kim, President of Korean American Association of Greater New York, stated: “I look forward to making sure that the Healthy Nail Salon Network will offer real solutions through a collaborative effort between government agencies, elected officials, business leaders, and nonprofit organizations. We have an opportunity to lead by example.”

Christopher Kui, Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), stated: "AAFE has worked closely with immigrant communities for over 40 years. We are committed to working with City and State agencies as well as our elected officials to provide in-depth language sensitive training and education to workers to ensure their rights and to owners of their legal responsibilities so that immigrant-run can continue to thrive in New York City. AAFE is also committed to working with the State in exploring more efficient and fair ways to certify nail technicians, preventing immigrant workers from further exploitation."

Larry Lee, the executive director of the New York Asian Women’s Center stated: “The Governor and Mayor are acting swiftly to protect nail salon workers. But, they and other elected officials must address the aftermath of their actions. Otherwise, for many thousands of nail salon workers, the solution may be even worse than the problem. Most of these workers are impoverished, undocumented, have a high school diploma or less, andcan’t hold a conversation in English. We urge the Governor and Mayor to help these immigrants by providing funds to tide them over, vocational training, job placement and English lessons.”