March 27–April 2, 2020 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 3
Our Perspective
Workers on the Front Lines
Need Our Support During Crisis
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW
We also need to give stores time to
Twitter: @sappelbaum
receive deliveries and re-stock shelves, and
we must not panic to a point that we are
adding to the stress and chaos in stores.
At the same time, it’s important to be
mindful of the impact this is going to have
on all workers. For non-union workers,
without a voice on the job and without
contract protections and benefits, this is an
even scarier time, since they are depending
solely upon management to keep their
workplaces safe. And for all workers, we are
entering an economically precarious time,
the likes of which we haven’t seen or even
imagined.
The goal of any recovery action and
legislation needs to be simple: no worker
should suffer loss of income because of this
pandemic, including those who aren’t sick or
caring for the ill. Any bailouts to
corporations needs to be tied to job retention
guarantees. There should not just be a
bailout for corporate executives; any bailout
needs to help everybody from the ground up
– or our workers, communities, and our
economy will be unable to recover. We
cannot leave any worker behind when it
comes to paid time off legislation at the
federal and state level, and we must include
undocumented workers at
any size of business.
As we rebuild our
economy and our state,
we can leave no one
behind. We will only
have one chance to get
this right.
During this unprecedented public
health crisis, working men and
women are on the front lines in the
battle to keep New Yorkers safe and
supplied, and to slow down the spread of the
Coronavirus; so our health care
professionals can keep the situation from
spiraling out of control.
RWDSU members in New York –
including those at pharmacies and grocery
stores – have an incredibly important role
during these unprecedented times.
Fortunately for them, they have a union
voice, and it’s a voice we are using to ensure
their workplaces are as safe as possible for
workers as well as the general public.
Workers need to be provided with the proper
protective equipment and sanitizer, clean
workplaces, and enough space or protective
barriers to make workers safer. Workers also
need proper security on hand to control
crowds and keep workplaces safe.
For other retail workers, we need to
protect income as stores close. The
economic disruption in their lives is going to
be massive, and we need to ensure that they
aren’t missing paychecks as this pandemic
drags on.
The general public should be thankful for
the heroic efforts of these brave workers
who are still doing their job amidst this
unprecedented crisis. And, we need to do
our part to keep them healthy; wash hands
constantly, use sanitizer, and keep safe
distance from others and workers as much
as is possible. We need to address the
growing childcare needs for service workers
who don't have the option of working from
home.
www.rwdsu.org
Barbers, salons close shop
Photo by Kevin Duggan
Alex Paez had to close his tattoo parlor on March 21 after the state shut down
all non-essential industries.
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By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
From close shaves to closed
doors.
Workers at Brooklyn’s barber
shops, tattoo parlors, and
nail salons are facing an uncertain
future after Governor
Andrew Cuomo announced
mandatory closures to help
contain the spread of the novel
coronavirus.
“These temporary closures
are not going to be easy, but
they are necessary to protect
the public health,” the governor
said.
Shops deemed “non-essential”
across New York — as
well as the rest of the tri-state
area — had to close their doors
to patrons on March 21, assuring
a major economic hit to
small businesses at a particularly
devastating time, said
one Crown Heights piercer.
“Around this time is usually
our best time. Because
of tax season, everybody has
a little more money to spend
on piercings and tattoos,”
said Alex Paez, who works
at Gothic City Ink on Union
Street near Utica Avenue.
The forced closures come
after an uncertain final work
week, where customers had
been canceling and opting to
spend money on essentials like
food and medicine instead,
according to Paez.
One Park Slope barber said
that he had fewer customers
overall in the last week of operation
— although some had
come in for last-minute shape-
ups before the quarantine.
“We had some people on
March 19 who said they
wouldn’t know when they
can get a haircut again,” said
Serj Yu, a manager at Elegant
Barber.
Yu said that the shop remained
open until the evening
before the ban to attract
as much business as possible,
but he understands the imperative
to close the businesses
affected by the ban during this
peculiar situation.
“I understand people being
cautious so there’s really
nobody to blame,” he
said. “It’s a worldwide situation
and there’s nothing we
can do.”
When reached for comment,
dozens of businesses
across the borough did not answer
their phones in the days
leading up to the ban — and
many had voice messages informing
customers that they’d
proactivley closed.
The owner of a Crown
Heights nail salon said that
he had sent his employees
home in the week before
the ban, after many workers
feared coming into close contact
with other people.
“Workers were all scared
to come in,” said Jack Xia,
who owns Sammy’s Nail Salon
on Nostrand Avenue and
Pacific Street. “You’re touching
hands and you’re close to
people’s face and you don’t
know who has the virus.”
And while businesses were
forced to close, demand from
customers continues, according
to the owner of a nail studio
— who said they still got
a half a dozen would-be customers
each day before the
bancalling for manicures and
pedicures.
“We’d been getting calls
but we’ve been turning them
down,” said the owner who
only gave her name as Rita.
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