The New York Review of Books ran a rebuttal this weekend to the much-talked about New York Times series “Unvarnished,” Sarah Maslin Nir’s yearlong investigation into the horrendous labor practices at many New York nail salons. The rebuttal, written by former reporter and current nail salon owner Richard Bernstein, points out that he thinks things are fine. So. There you go.
The “Unvarnished” series, which you can read in full here, focused both on the exploitatively low wages paid to many workers in the nail industry, particularly undocumented ones, and the hazardous chemicals they work with. Nir said she spoke to 150 nail salon workers, with the help of a team of translators, and pored over numerous help wanted ads for salons.
The piece, which could very well win a Pulitzer, also had an immediate, real-world effect: Governor Andrew Cuomo created an emergency task force to inspect each salon in the city, and a “bill of rights” for salon workers must now be displayed at every one. The aim is to make sure that salon workers aren’t working for low or nonexistent wages as “apprentices,” and that they’re wearing masks and gloves to help reduce their exposure to hazardous chemicals like acrylic powder.
In his rebuttal, Richard Bernstein, who with his wife and sister-in-law, both from China, co-owns what he calls two “modestly-sized” nail salons, focused on those apprentice wages (and not at all on the hazardous chemicals, which he referred to as things that “may be” harmful to workers). Bernstein claimed that those starting wages aren’t nearly as low as Nir reported, and that her “Dickensian” depiction of the nail industry is wrong.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
