For many people, going to a nail salon for a manicure or pedicure is a small, affordable luxury and a pleasant way to relax. For workers in these salons, however, the story is often less glamorous: low pay, abusive working conditions, and constant exposure to dangerous chemicals that threaten to ruin their health.

Nail care is very popular. In 2017, women (and some men) spent more than $8 billion a year on nail care at around 200,000 nail salons across the nation. The publisher of the magazine Nails explained the phenomenon this way: Nail care isnt just about grooming anymore; its self-expression. Just as tattoos have become mainstream, nail art has too. Technical innovations such as gel polishes, which last longer and are easier to remove, also drove the trend. For most customers, the price of the serviceaveraging less than $20 for a manicurewas easy to fit into their budgets.

not been fully studied, the three most dangerous chemicals used there were believed to be toluene (which made polish glide on smoothly), dibutyl phthalate (which made it pliable), and formaldehyde (which hardened it). Workers also inhaled acrylic dust; acquired fungal infections from customers hands and feet; and injured their backs, necks, and shoulders from constant repetitive motion. Nails reported that more than half of nail technicians said they suffered from a work-related ailment.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration set standards for workplace exposure to many of the chemicals used in nail salons and urged workers to wear protective gear like gloves and masks and to properly ventilate their salons. States also set safety and health rules. But as a practical matter these rules were routinely ignored, and inspections were conducted only in response to specific complaints.

In New York, in the wake of the expos published by The New York Times, officials rushed to assemble a task force to address conditions in the industry and said they would post a manicurists bill of rights in 10 languages in every salon, describing minimum wage laws and required safety measures. We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights, said the governor of New York. But it was unclear how much impact these measures would have. One official observed that manicurists were particularly reluctant to cooperate with investigators, saying, They are totally running scared in this industry.

Required Consider/incorporate your responses into the analysis section of your brief.

1. This section describes several workplace rights. Which of these rights are violated in the nail salon industry, and what evidence do you have of this?
2. To what degree do you think managers in the nail salon industry would be able to improve conditions voluntarily if they wished to do so, and why do you think so?
3. What factors make it particularly difficult for workers in the nail industry to organize to improve their own conditions, and how could these factors be overcome?
4. What factors make it particularly difficulty for government policymakers and regulators to make rules for the nail industry and enforce them? How could these factors be overcome?
5. What do you think is the best way to improve conditions for workers in the nail industry?

Who were the manicurists and pedicurists laboring over all these hands and feet? According to Nails, 380,000 people worked in nail salons in the United States. Ninety-four percent were women. Over half were Vietnamese, although ethnicity varied by location; in New York City, for example, Koreans dominated the industry. Many workers had limited English proficiency, and a significant proportion were undocumented immigrants.

Wages were very low. According to government data, the median annual wage for a manicurist was $19,620. Only a quarter of the 100 workers interviewed by a reporter for The New York Times said they had been paid the equivalent of the state minimum wage. The Times expos also reported that sometimes workers were not paid at all; many new workers were required to pay a so-called training fee and to work without wages during an apprenticeship period. Overtime pay was almost unheard-of, the newspaper found, even though long work days and weeks were commonplace. Nails magazine reported that more than a fifth of nail salon workers income came from tips, which relied entirely on the goodwill of customers.

Most salons were small. Barriers to entry were low: an operator could set up business by renting a storefront and investing a few thousand dollars in furnishings, equipment, and supplies. Eighty-one percent of manicurists and pedicurists worked in a shop with three or fewer technicians. The industry was highly competitive, and salons went in and out of business frequently.

Nail technicians worked with polishes, solvents, hardeners, and glues that caused respiratory and skin ailments, reproductive harm, and even cancer. Although occupational health in nail salons had