Hairdressers to Morrison: ‘We are pleading with you, shut us down’
As much as we love serving the community, hairdressers are not an essential service. And the fact that the PM won’t let us shut down and help keep people safe is absurd, writes Just Cuts CEO Denis McFadden.
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Our government should not be wasting time backflipping over whether hairdressers should see clients for 30 minutes or more.
People are sick and starting to die in Australia.
Surely from what we have seen overseas in China, Italy, the UK and North America, now is the time for swifter and stricter isolation. So why has our government declared hairdressers remain open?
The mind boggles at the absurdity of this situation. How can any salon safely operate under social distancing rules when cutting, colouring, washing and styling involves being less than an arms length away from a client?
Why has the health and safety of hairdressers not been factored in to these measures? We are not essential medical staff.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister announced that Premiers and Chief Ministers of the National Cabinet had agreed “that the instruction regarding 30 minutes per patron would be lifted but that the 4 sqm per person must be strictly observed within the premises and that personal contact during the patron’s visit should be minimised wherever possible.”
There are 2500 fully qualified stylists in the Just Cuts Australian network, predominantly in shopping centres, and 3500 globally.
Just Cuts has 190 salons across all states and territories of Australia, 28 salons in New Zealand and 6 in the UK. The UK Government moved on March 22 to close salons with New Zealand following the next day.
The Australian Government has excluded hairdressing from the list of non-essential services that needed to close and which included beauty salons.
This decision is bonkers. It is physically impossible for stylists to do a shampoo or haircut without touching the client. It’s physically impossible for stylists to do their job and keep the 4 sqm, which National Cabinet now says “must be strictly observed”.
This is not about what services can and can’t be provided in a 30 minute window. This is about the health of everyone in our salons, our hairdressers and our clients. Hairdressing is not an essential service.
Of course I would prefer this wasn’t happening at all, and calling for the sector to be shut down might seem counter-productive but it simply must happen in the interest of people’s health.
Without hairdressing on the shutdown list, it is incredibly difficult for our franchise owners to take the heartbreaking but necessary steps to stand down workers so they can access available support or call for breathing space on leases.
Given the steps taken in the UK and New Zealand to close salons along with other non-essential businesses, and given everything the medical experts are saying, we simply cannot justify the health or financial risk to our franchise owners, stylists and clients.
Australian national and state governments, we are pleading with you. We understand that you’re trying to juggle protecting livelihoods and saving lives but this decision puts both at risk for our people and clients. Please act now.
Denis McFadden is the founder and CEO of Just Cuts.
Originally published as Hairdressers to Morrison: ‘We are pleading with you, shut us down’