All That Glitters Is Not Gold: the Dark Side of the Beauty Industry P

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ISSN 2078-6816 the beauty industry beauty the gold: the dark side of All that glitters is not #17 HesaMag spring-summer 2018spring-summer magazine work at safety and health (ETUI) Institute’s Union Trade European The

1 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Contents 1/1 Contents Newsflash… p. 2 Editorial Workplaces are also places where we live p. 5 European news Revision of the directive on occupational cancers: a political battle requiring staying power p. 6 Special report All that glitters is not gold: the dark side of the beauty industry p. 10 The fight to protect hairdressers’ health: the inside story p. 12 Working as a nail technician: when beauty is not in tune with health p. 16 The European Cosmetics Regulation: consumers better protected than hairdressers p. 24 Health hazard at the gym: instructor insecurity p. 28 A $10 manicure? The other side of the coin p. 33 “I love it when people tell me about their lives” p. 37 From the unions Fighting for the factory, only to die for it. The exemplary fight of the former Givors glassworkers p. 39 International news The legend of Luigi Di Ruscio p. 43 Books The conversion of an “agri-manager” p. 48 Trade unions and health and safety in the workplace, a complicated history p. 49 5 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Editorial 1/1 Editorial Workplaces are also places where we live

Laurent Vogel ETUI

Most of the adult population spends a large in public spaces, and another – lower – set high levels of risk were declared acceptable amount of time at work, whether as hours per protecting people at work. These double when the people affected were at work. For day, days per week or years of active work. standards lead to major health inequalities, instance, the limit value for hexavalent chro- Over and above the actual working hours, as workplace risks vary greatly dependent mium corresponded to a risk level of one in work plays an important role in our relations on a worker’s place in the social hierarchy. A ten exposed workers developing lung cancer. with the world around us: with the people and recent study conducted in Belgium showed Obviously, such risks would not be consid- the things we work with. Work requires us to that women and men aged between 30 and ered acceptable in any other field of regula- use our intelligence, our bodies and limbs, 60 working in the cleaning sector have a tion, for instance with regard to food, air or our emotions. Work is also an important set- much higher early mortality rate than that water quality, transport or consumer safety. ting for socialising. Whatever the work, it al- of management staff, due to a great extent to This all makes it seem as if the world of ways involves some form of cooperation, with the much higher risk of cancer and lung dis- work is governed by different rules, much less the work of any one individual part of a wider eases such as emphysema or chronic bron- respectful of human life. And this aspect is not picture. It is this whole picture that gives the chitis. While the material factors explaining limited to the risk of physical harm to work- work its sense. this situation have been known for a long ers. It also concerns their subordination, the Since the beginning of the Industrial time, the obstacle in the way of effective pre- obligation for them to kow-tow to a company Revolution and the establishment of special- vention is to be found in the high degree of or supply chain hierarchy and its disciplinary ised workspaces like workshops and facto- subordination resulting from the systematic rules. The emergence of the issue of psycho- ries, in most cases workplaces have been de- use of subcontracting. The whole cleaning social risks reveals at what point such work signed as closed spaces, generally subject to sector is geared towards cutting costs – organisation becomes harmful and mutilating. company rules and the whims of employers. whatever the cost. Fighting for workplace health puts a The struggles to make workplaces healthier A major aspect of today’s debates in Eu- major question-mark over the brutal divid- and safer revealed the unacceptable side of rope about recasting the directive on preventing line between life at work and life in gen- work back then. The birth of occupation- ing occupational cancers revolves around eral. The goal must be to tear down this wall al health as a specific discipline in the 19th this question of double standards (see article separating work from other human activities, century saw a form of double standard being on p. 6). The initial proposals put forward by to restructure work to eliminate the distinc- established. Public hygiene laws served as a the European Commission were restricted tion between those performing the work and basis for regulating various areas of public to minimum protection against a very limit- those shaping it, and to reject the double health, while the rules adopted for worked number of risks. What was striking in all standards between protecting life in general place health were often a lot laxer, providing these debates was the ease with which very and life at work.• a lower level of protection. Looked at from a liberal perspective, workers’ health rested in the hands of their employers, on a par with keeping machines in good running order or a building in good repair. Even today, the Fighting for workplace health puts majority of those responsible for workplace health policies in the various countries pre- a major question-mark over the brutal fer to rely on voluntary initiatives, on company self-regulation, to preserve the health dividing line between life at work and life of workers. Even now, double standards still exist, in general. with one set of standards protecting people 66 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 European news 1/4 Revision of the directive on occupational cancers: a political battle requiring staying power

Cancers caused by work have become one of the main legislative battlegrounds in the European Union. The current revision of the directive can already be seen as a victory for the trade unions, in an overall unfavourable context. But how far will the revision go?

Laurent Vogel ETUI

The proposal to include diesel emissions in the Directive on carcinogens is the main bone of contention between Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Image: © Belga 77 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 European news 2/4

In Europe, cancers are the main cause of The challenge we are facing is formi- The subsequent period was overshad- deaths related to bad working conditions. dable. Of all the legislation on work-related owed by a legislative paralysis justified by An in-depth look at them reveals a paradox. health risks, legislation in this field has the various pretexts. First, the legislative con- All of them are avoidable: all that needs to be greatest impact on human lives. Effectively text had been made more complex by the done is to eliminate exposure to dangerous fighting occupational cancers involves ques- so-called "better legislation" process which substances at work. However, little progress tioning employer control over the way work meant that any legislative proposal had to has been made over the past few years. In is organised and the use of certain produc- be subjected to an impact assessment revolv- the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of effort was put tion methods. The vast majority of occupa- ing mainly around cost-benefit calculations. into getting asbestos prohibited, with the tional cancers are not due to accidents, but to When complex measures involved impacts battle ending in 1999 with the substance the lack of attention paid to preventing risks covering many decades, these calculations being banned throughout the European in production processes and to the deliberate were generally based on tenuous assump- Union from 1 January 2005 onwards. But negligence of human health in the search for tions very much open to manipulation. subsequent union demands for tighter leg- profits. Second, the launch of the REFIT1 pro- islative measures on occupational cancers gramme in December 2012 constituted a have come up against very effective industry further hurdle, introducing a legislative mor- lobbying and European Commission hostil- Ten years wasted atorium in the field of work-related health ity. It was as if, once the asbestos battle had pending an assessment of all directives. This been won, a new chapter had been started, The process of revising the directive on moratorium, originally planned just for 2014, with occupational cancers moving out of the protecting workers against carcinogens was extended by the Juncker Commission political focus. was finally started in 2016, despite hav- for the whole of 2015. On 6 June 2014, the ing been planned for the 2002-2006 pe- Commission adopted the EU Occupational riod as part of the Community strategy Safety and Health (OSH) Strategic Frame- on work-related health. At that time, four work 2014-2020, without however foreseeing aspects were considered as priority by the any legislative measure concerning cancers. European Commission: the inclusion of re- There was thus a risk of a further multi-year protoxic substances in the directive’s scope, stalemate, despite the fact that occupational the adoption of new occupational exposure cancers kill more than 100 000 people in Eu- limits (OELs), a revision of the existing rope every year. OELs and the adoption of criteria for set- The formation of the new Commission 1. Acronym for “Regulatory ting OELs. under Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014 brought Fitness and Performance In the context of progressively imple- no change to this approach. At her hearing by Programme”. menting REACH, it would have been logical the European Parliament on 1 October 20142, 2. The full minutes of to consider this revision as a top priority Ms Thyssen – designated for the employment this hearing are available for the 2007-2012 strategy. But this was de- and social affairs portfolio – listed four prior- at: http://www.europarl. europa.eu/hearings-2014/ voted to the deregulatory shift linked to the ities for her work. Workers’ health and safety resources/library/media/2 political context of the formation of the first were not on her list. The word "cancer" was 0141022RES75837/2014 Barroso Commission (which took office in not mentioned once during the long hearing. 1022RES75837.pdf November 2004). The brief statement referring to European 8 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 European news 3/4

legislation on occupational risks was marked points brings with it the risk of missing out and Poland) wanted to uphold the Commis- by the same fudging as seen over the past on a comprehensive analysis of all prevention sion’s minimalistic proposals and rejected all decade in the two Barroso Commissions. needs. This is why the European Trade Union of the Parliament’s substantial amendments. The stalemate finally came to an end Confederation is calling for the adoption They were very often supported by Romania during the Dutch Presidency of the European of a medium-term roadmap defining these and Finland. The other States took middle- Union in the first half of 20163. needs and providing a definitive schedule for of-the-road positions or did not voice a clear the various legislative measures, as well as opinion. There was thus no clear majority for other legislative measures such as better within the Council6. After a series of fruitless Parliament removes the barrier Community funding for research aimed at meetings, a compromise was finally reached, stimulating the substitution of carcinogens. with the directive adopted in December 2017. The directive is set to be revised in several The European Parliament has played phases. This entails overlapping debates as a particularly positive role in this process, the legislative process associated with each with its amendments greatly improving the Twenty-one supplementary batch of proposals can take quite a long Commission’s minimalistic proposals. This limit values time and will not be completed when the pressure – backed by some 85% of MEPs4 – subsequent batch is submitted to the Euro- took the Commission by surprise. It tried to The final text is a great improvement on the pean Parliament and the Council of Minis- present the amendments as unreasonable, initial proposal, especially due to the inclu- ters. For instance, the proposal for the first intimating that they endangered the whole sion of reprotoxic substances in its scope of phase of the revision was presented in May process of revising the directive. application, something the European Par- 2016 and ended with the adoption of a direc- In the EU system, amendments put for- liament had wanted to achieve in the first tive in December 2017. In the meantime, the ward by Parliament are only included in the phase. The final compromise requires the second phase was initiated in January 2017. final text of a legislative instrument when Commission to assess the consequences of The amendments brought in by the Euro- they have been taken up by the Council of this measure at the latest by the first quarter pean Parliament with regard to this second Ministers. These negotiations take place in of 2019 with the aim of envisaging a revision phase were voted on in March 2018 and ne- the context of what is called a "trilogue", in gotiations are now taking place between the which the representatives of the Parliament Parliament and the Council to get a directive and the Council seek a compromise. Though adopted, probably in the course of the second not having decision-making power, the Com- half of 2018. We are seeing a similar overlap- mission takes part in these meetings and is ping with the third phase. Started in April able to defend its positions. 2018, it is expected to go on until 2019, when With regard to the negotiations on the the fourth phase will probably be launched first phase, the Member States were divid- 3. For the reasons for this after the European elections in May 2019. ed into three blocks5. A significant group of shift, see Vogel, L. (2016) Cancer at work: more needs Cutting up the process into several States were in favour of supporting a major to be done to achieve better phases is basically no problem. For a direc- part of the Parliament’s amendments. The legislation, Hesamag, 14, tive against occupational cancers to be ef- States most active in this group were Sweden, 6-9. fective, it needs to be regularly reviewed to France, Germany and Belgium, though, in 4. Just two groups, the take account of the latest data. However, a certain questions, up to a dozen States could extreme-right (ENL) and the series of ad hoc revisions targeting specific be involved. Two States (the United Kingdom national conservatives (ECR) did not vote in favour of the majority of amendments. 5. These blocks were not static, i.e. their composition changed over time. Depending on the issue in question, certain The European Parliament has played States could have position more or less favourable regarding the Parliament’s a particularly positive role in this process, amendments. 6. A qualified majority with its amendments greatly improving in the Council consists of 55% of Member States, the Commission’s minimalistic proposals. representing at least 65% of the EU population. 9 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 European news 4/4

and carbon dioxide), but it is still too early to More information While the current know whether this will gain a majority in the Council of Ministers. The ETUI website regularly tracks progress in the revision is Taking stock, we can expect 21 limit field of occupational cancers, with a whole section values to have been adopted by the end of the devoted to this question: https://www.etui.org/ indispensable, it must current Commission’s term of office in 2019. Topics/Health-Safety-working-conditions/Occupa- While constituting great progress compared tional-cancers not black out the need to the three limit values adopted between On 4-5 December 2018, the ETUI will be holding 1990 and 1999, it is just little when com- a conference in Brussels on “Women, cancer and to find legislative pared to workplace reality. The 2020 target work”. Details will be available soon at www.etui. of 50 limit values will not be achieved. The org. To receive regular updates, please send an responses to defined limit values offer very different lev- email to [email protected]. els of protection depending on the substanc- emerging risks. es. There is a lack of consistency and a major transparency problem in that the directive provides no information on the residual risks Women also affected! even if a limit value is complied with. Looked at from a quantitative perspective, the most The example of important aspect is the momentum which has led to a large majority being created with- cytostatic drugs in the European Parliament and which has mitigated the Council’s initial reluctance to In the field of healthcare, many drugs go any further than the minimum proposed have health-impairing consequences for by the Commission. A window of opportunity staff. This is particularly the case with is thus now open. the cytostatic substances used to treat The current revision is limited to catch- cancers (chemotherapy). At all stages – drug ing-up measures, i.e. adapting the directive preparation and administration, contact with to the scientific state-of-the-art and to the patients’ urine or sweat, waste disposal and prevention possibilities available at the end laundry cleaning – hazardous exposure may of the 20th century. In the meantime, new occur if the work is not correctly organised. on this point. Thanks to the Parliament, the scientific knowledge has appeared, especially Such exposure can itself cause cancer and is directive requires Member States to organise relating to carcinogenesis, the role played by reprotoxic (fertility problems, miscarriages, the health surveillance of exposed workers epigenetic processes, endocrine disruptors, etc.). The staff concerned are mainly women. beyond the actual period of exposure. This the transgenerational effects of certain forms While the occurrence of all occupational is an important aspect, as cancer often only of occupational exposure, the risks linked to cancers is seriously underestimated, this develops several years after exposure. With the spread of nanomaterials and the role of is especially the case for women. Many regard to hexavalent chromium and wood multiple exposures. stereotypes associate occupational cancers dust, the European Parliament has achieved While the current revision is indispen- with jobs done by men in traditional industries. exposure limit values ensuring a higher level sable, it must not black out the need to find Yet the prevention of occupational cancers is of protection against cancers. However, the legislative responses to emerging risks or to particularly lacking in sectors dominated by Parliament’s amendment regarding crystal- take account of our better knowledge. We are women, for instance healthcare or cleaning. line silica was not adopted, with the Europe- only at the start. There is still much work to The revision of the directive is doing nothing an limit value leaving a considerable residu- be done. We need to create a balance of power to rectify this situation. The majority of al risk. This point will need to be put on the allowing a comprehensive strategy for elim- the substances targeted by the European agenda of the next phases. inating occupational cancers to be defined. Commission are found in jobs done by men. As regards the second phase, the most This fight goes hand-in-hand with actions This is why the trade unions and the European important debate was about diesel engine ex- to defend the environment against chemical Parliament want to get cytostatic substances haust emissions, a risk affecting some 3 mil- risks. It also has a decisive role to play if we included in the directive’s field of application. lion workers in Europe. The European Parlia- want to combat social health inequality. Be- Adopted by the Parliament, an amendment ment has voted in amendments which include yond their immediate results, the current in- relating to the second phase of the revision calls these emissions in the directive’s scope of tense debates are of great importance in em- for priority to be given to this question in the application and set exposure limit values for phasising the political dimension of the fight upcoming phases. two of their constituents (elemental carbon against cancer.• 10 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 1/29 All that glitters is not gold: the dark side of the beauty industry Special report coordinated by Denis Grégoire and Laurent Vogel (ETUI)

Because they contribute to our wellbeing or at The problem is particularly severe in manicuring least improve our physical appearance, beauty services. In recent years the trend for artificial nails professionals are rarely seen as workers who has spread throughout industrialised countries. face health and safety risks. Cheap nail salons have literally taken over some parts of large cities. These salons use toxic The fact that they have to present an image that chemicals, especially solvents (see articles on p. 16 fits the standards imposed by society in terms of and p. 33). beauty, health and youth makes it even harder to expose working and employment conditions that Hairdressers also suffer from conditions linked to are much less attractive than the shiny fronts of the use of cosmetics in unfavourable conditions the magazines that promote them. (humidity, heat, lack of ventilation, etc.). Aware that these problems, alongside often low wages, are one “Those who take care of the body of others pay of the main reasons for the high turnover in this the price with their personal health”, quite rightly sector, the hairdressers’ employers’ organisation has observes the Spanish journalist Berta Chulvi in an agreed to conclude with the sector’s trade union article in this special report about a former fitness federation a European framework agreement to centre instructor (p. 28) improve safety and health protection in hair salons. Although the European social partners would like There are extremely few of these – mostly this agreement to become a directive, the European female – beauty workers who do not suffer from Commission is strongly opposed to this idea (p. 12). musculoskeletal problems. Daily use of cosmetic products containing chemical substances that are The European legislation that regulates the allergenic or irritate the skin causes other health marketing of cosmetic products primarily protects problems that often force employees to give up their consumers, who use these products first thing in the chosen profession prematurely. morning or at night before going to bed, rather than the professionals who work with them for at least 30 hours a week (p. 24). 11 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 2/29

Image: © Martine Zunini 12 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 3/29 The fight to protect hairdressers’ health: the inside story

The never-ending saga of the framework agreement of the European social partners on health and safety in the hairdressing sector well illustrates the influence of gender stereotypes on policymakers. The virulent attacks of those opposed to transposing this agreement into a directive are partly explained by the fact that 80% of employees in the sector are women.

Laurent Vogel ETUI

The occupations of hairdressers and barbers have been classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the WHO. Image: © Belga 13 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 4/29

More than one million people work in the documented over the past few years. The is insufficient and it is rare to find high- hairdressing sector in Europe, 80% of them work involves major ergonomic constraints: exposure zones (in particular for permanent women. Many of them are quite young, with having to work in an upright position lean- dyeing) completely separated from the other 56% of those recruited being younger than 19. ing over a customer’s head, holding the tools workplaces. A hairdressing salon can easily The bad working conditions and their im- of the trade for prolonged periods with one’s become a multi-exposure hotspot. Problems pact on employee health are important fac- arms above the shoulders. This is the cause with allergies are commonplace. Asthma and tors explaining the sector’s high turnover of many musculoskeletal disorders, whether skin disorders are some of the main reasons rate. As a rule, you start work in the trade at in the back or in the shoulders. The repeti- why people leave the trade. When a person – a young age, but don’t stay very long. Forms tive movements of the hands and wrists are in this case a hairdresser – is allergic to a cer- of employment are very variable and often made worse by the fact that in many cases tain allergen, she becomes very vulnerable, precarious. A lot of hairdressers are self- the scissors, brushes and hair-driers do not even if exposure is at a very low level. This employed, in one of the three categories: ergonomically match hairdressers’ hands will not only stop her from working as a hair- those with their own salons; those working in and the work they do. dresser, but will also mean her having to live salons belonging to someone else (a situation The design of hairdressing salons can with a serious handicap for the rest of her life. often exploited by owners to avoid employing also pose problems. While they are often Other risks concern the physical envi- someone); and those offering mobile services quite spacious and attractive for customers, ronment. Noise levels from certain applianc- at customers’ homes, in nursing homes, be- they are rarely adapted to the characteristics es are often quite high, lighting inadequate fore weddings, etc. of the work, meaning that the hairdressers and temperatures high. Electrical installa- Over the last few years, we have been often have to move around a lot in limited tions are rarely up to industrial standards. seeing a polarisation of work between very space. Falling, slipping, bumping into each The psychosocial dimension also has to be small salons (the majority of which employ other, having to lean over or to reach up for less than three people) and chains of salons things placed well above the shoulders are (often quite large and sometimes even mul- all part and parcel of the daily work. Falls tinational companies). In certain cases, staff and slips are the main cause of accidents in are directly employed by these companies, the sector. while in others labour relationships are more There are also massive chemical risks complex, featuring various forms of fran- associated with hairdressing work. Part of chising. Cosmetics firms exercise a certain the work involves working with water and control over part of the sector, sometimes other liquids. This causes skin problems, by way of a franchise system, sometimes making the hands more vulnerable to harm- partially financing certain salons, etc. –and ful chemical products. On the other hand, Asthma and skin thereby influencing which products are pur- working with a clientele for whom having chased. The downside of this dependence of their hair done is synonymous with pleasure disorders are two of various salons on multinational cosmetics and relaxation makes it more difficult to ef- companies is that they are not free to choose fectively avoid chemical risks: it is difficult to the main reasons why less toxic products. work with gloves and a mask, as this would The negative health impact of the permanently highlight the toxic nature of the people leave the trade. bad working conditions has been amply substances used. Ventilation in many salons 14 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 5/29

taken into account: relations with customers 2000, the two sides have negotiated a range of 1. IARC (2010) Some 3. Council Directive may be strained. instruments. Debates initially ranged around aromatic amines, organic 2010/32/EU of 10 May The most invisible risks are often the the issue of qualifications, leading to the in- dyes, and related exposures, 2010 implementing the most insidious ones. We are seeing a major troduction of certification systems for vari- Monographs on the Framework Agreement Evaluation of Carcinogenic on prevention from sharp link between occupational exposure and sev- ous qualification levels. In 2005, a covenant Risks to Humans vol. 99. injuries in the hospital and eral forms of cancer (in particular, bladder on the use of cosmetic products was adopted. http://monographs.iarc.fr/ healthcare sector concluded cancer associated with the use of hair dyes). A general framework agreement was signed ENG/Monographs/vol99/ by HOSPEEM and EPSU. In a monograph published in 20101, the In- in 2009 to improve working conditions in the index.php 4. After having campaigned ternational Agency for Research on Cancer sector, relating mainly to training and the 2. Breast Cancer Fund, together with UKIP for (IARC) confirmed that the occupational ex- certification thereof. Various activities con- Working Women and Brexit, he is now UK posure of hairdressers should be considered ducted within the context of the European Breast Cancer. The State of Secretary of State for Evidence, August 2015. Transport under Theresa as probably carcinogenic (IARC group 2A). social dialogue helped to identify the health May. Exposure to endocrine disruptors is frequent, and safety problems in the sector and to look contributing to reproductive health problems into the positive experiences with prevention (miscarriages, congenital deformities). One in a number of countries, leading to a specific recent study published in the United States framework agreement on health and safety showed that the risk of developing breast being adopted in 2012. cancer was higher for hairdressers and beau- In accordance with the EU Treaty, the ticians2. According to certain studies, they signatory organisations requested that the are five times higher than for the population agreement be enforced via a directive, as had head again: "Hair Hitlers. EU rules to ban in general. already been the case in a different sector in hairdressers from wearing rings and heels". 2010. A social dialogue agreement in the hos- The Daily Mail was quick to follow: "High pital sector related to injuries caused by sharp heels to be cut down to size under new EU A never-ending saga instruments. Concluded on 17 July 2009, the proposals forcing hairdressers to wear non- agreement was transposed into a directive slip flat shoes". The agreement in fact said Contrary to what people often think, the adopted on 10 May 20103. For an agreement nothing about high heels, solely stipulating sector does have a trade union tradition, negotiated independently by the employers two fundamental prevention principles: that though it varies greatly from one country to and unions to become a directive, all the salons be equipped with non-slip flooring the next. The UNI Europa "hair and beau- Commission has to do is to check the repre- and that employees wear non-slip shoes. The ty" sector has affiliated members in 17 of the sentativeness of the signatories and whether information was thus inaccurate. But this 28 EU Member States, while the correspond- the agreement contains any provisions going press campaign had all the workings of being ing European-level employer organisation, against EU law. Once this has been done, it orchestrated, with the two tabloids quoting Coiffure EU, is present in 19 Member States is up to the Council of Ministers to adopt the UK Employment Minister Chris Grayling4: (+ Switzerland). Note the dissymmetry. On draft directive without being able to amend "We should be creating jobs, not killing them. the union side, the sector includes the beauty the agreement’s text. In other words, it can This kind of stupidity has to stop. It makes no business (i.e. mainly staff working in beauty either accept or reject the text in its entirety. sense and I will do everything I can to stop it." salons, nail studios, etc.), while on the em- The European Parliament has no say in the At this point in time, it seemed that we were ployer side, the beauty sector is represented matter, being solely informed of the process. witnessing the umpteenth demagogic inven- by an organisation with a much more blurred There is nothing in the Treaty allow- tion of the London gutter press, kick-started profile. CEPEC, the European Confederation ing the Commission to give any opinion on by a minister in need of publicity. The Euro- of Professional Beauticians and Cosmeti- the opportuneness or content of the frame- pean Commission website issued a disclaim- cians, has member organisations in nine EU work agreement over and above checking its er on 12 April 2012. But we were in for more countries, though with a variety of profiles: compliance with EU law. This explained the surprises. In November 2012, the next attack not only beauty salons but also producers of signatories’ optimism – they were convinced by the UK tabloids began, and this time the the equipment and/or products used in beau- that a draft directive would be adopted by the Commission’s disclaimer of 2 November was ty treatments. Commission within just a few months. The somewhat less firm, containing two notes Trade union density and collective only question-mark was over whether the of caution: that the Commission had not agreement coverage vary a lot from one coun- Council would wave it through. But things yet decided what it would be doing with the try to the next, though at European level were to turn out differently… agreement and would drop the proposal if an there is now a system of collective relations impact assessment showed that the costs out- which has become consolidated over time. weighed the benefits, and that the transposi- Following the European rules, the hairdress- It all started with a “fake news” item tion of the agreement into European legisla- ing sector is responsible for a range of activ- tion must not go against the interests of small ities defined in sectoral social dialogue. And The request to adopt a directive came up businesses. This had nothing to do with sim- it is far from being an inactive sector: it is the against an unprecedented and aggressive ply checking representativeness or legality. only one to have negotiated two framework campaign. Two weeks before the agreement These reservations were proof that the agreements between 2009 and 2013. As oc- was formally concluded, the attack got un- agreement – and with it the whole principle cupational health problems are behind the derway, initiated by two UK tabloids. The of social partner autonomy guaranteed by the sector’s high turnover rate, it is only logical headline in the Sun on 9 April 2012 did not Treaty – had been taken hostage by the "Bet- that this aspect plays a key role. Beginning in mince words: Nazism was rearing its ugly ter Regulation" campaign. From a practical 15 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 6/29

a stereotype image of beauty, negating the A directive to protect the lives and health real-life needs of their bodies. The men so much opposed to the agreement have never of a million hairdressers is still not ready known what it is like to spend eight hours a day standing on high heels and moving to see the light of day… around customers on an often-slippery floor. On top of this, there is the reticence of certain Member States with regard to the Treaty clause stipulating that a sectoral collective agreement negotiated between the European social partners can be transposed into a directive. They view this as a loss of point of view, it was clear that the cost of the A version 2.0 of the agreement control over the European legislative pro- planned measures was largely offset by the cess. The Commission also seems intent on life-saving and health-promoting effects for At the request of the Commission, the sig- promoting its "Better Regulation" campaign, hairdressers. Moreover, the employer organi- natory organisations drafted a new version with the clear aim of reducing the "burden" sations had been convinced – otherwise they of the agreement, with each sentence taking put on businesses by occupational health would never have signed the agreement. They account of the remarks made by the Commis- legislation. wanted the agreement to be transposed into sion’s legal department. Adopted in Septem- The political message directed to- a directive for the very reason of preventing ber 2016, this agreement contained basically wards the social partners is that they can a savage price war which would have made the same elements as the initial agreement, negotiate – as foreseen by the Treaty – but working conditions even worse. But back- though without any wording likely to provoke that this may only be done under the thumb stage, it was obvious that others were at work: hostile reactions from the Commission. of the Commission which intends to keep the cosmetics companies. These had man- Eighteen months later, the situation re- tight control over the outcome of any such aged to get a tailor-made regulation allowing mains stalemated. A directive to protect the negotiations, using its legislative monopoly them to market harmful products when used lives and health of a million hairdressers is to dissuade potential "heretics". And then, of professionally. They wanted absolutely noth- still not ready to see the light of day… nine course, there is the permanent pressure ap- ing to do with the substitution principle being years after the first agreement was signed. plied by a cosmetics industry which refuses applied in the haircare sector (see article on Unions and employer organisations are to allow any major control over its produc- page 24). launching new initiatives in the health and tion. Since 2007, the sector’s employer or- It quickly became clear that the im- safety field. They will be assessing the re- ganisations and trade unions have displayed pact assessment was nothing more than a sults and, dependent on these, are planning their willingness to take true account of the smokescreen masking a Commission policy to again request that a directive be adopted. health of professional users before author- decision. Even before knowing the results, UNI Europa negotiator Dimitris Theodorakis ising substances used in cosmetics. Unfor- Commission President Barroso announced had this to say: "We were not expecting so tunately, this requirement has never been that he would never accept a directive in much obstinacy and hostility towards an effectively integrated into European legis- this field, declaring on the German TV agreement based on a simple principle: that lation. Whatever the cause, the arbitrary channel ARD on 2 October 2013 that he saw of being able to work in the sector without refusal of the Commission to transpose the no reason for adopting European rules on having to sacrifice your health. We will be agreement into a directive and the total lack "hairdressers’ heels". Betraying his disdain, continuing our efforts to improve working of transparency on the part of the Commis- he stated: "You don’t want Europe to meddle conditions via European initiatives, but, to sion have left their mark.• where it should not. We have not interfered put it frankly, this last experience has turned with the height of hairdressers’ heels". The out to be a cold shower for many unions." arrival of Mr Juncker as head of the Europe- Seeking to understand why the Europe- an Commission didn’t change much. Though an Commission is so much against transpos- the tone was perhaps more subdued, the ing the agreement into a directive, we can see More information Commission’s attitude towards the agree- the combined effect of four factors. First of all, ment remained unchanged. In November there is the typical stereotype of female oc- Broughton A. et al. (2014) Improving quality of 2015, a Commission publication promoting cupations being less exposed to occupational work and employment in the hairdressing sector: "Better Regulation" and targeting the public risks, especially when they are merely seen as scenarios for social partner cooperation, Dublin, at large featured a picture making fun of the an extension of unpaid domestic work. Work- Eurofound. agreement: a hairdresser cutting a custom- ing as a hairdresser is often seen as a simple Degryse C. (2015) European Sectoral Social Dia- er’s hair, with a high-heeled shoe in the fore- and pleasant way for a housewife to make a logue: an uneven record of achievement?, Working ground, accompanied by the words: "The few euros on the side. But you don’t have to Paper 2015.2, Brussels, ETUI. EU must not be big on small things". Was be a psychoanalyst to suspect that this ab- Maraschin J. (2009) Hairdressing and beauty care: the fact that thousands of avoidable cancers surd fixation with high heels clearly shows to European action for safer workplaces, HesaMag, 1, occurred a small thing? Was the fact that what extent hairdressing is associated with 42-45. tens of thousands of people quit their work a gender-based division of labour. The high EU-OSHA (2014) Occupational health and safety in each year due to serious health problems a heels have a symbolic function, with hair- the hairdressing sector, Luxembourg, Publications small thing? dressers having to put across to their clientele Office of the European Union. 16 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 7/29 Working as a nail technician: when beauty is not in tune with health

In February 2014, employees working for Supply Beauty, a beauty salon offering hairdressing and manicure services, came out on strike against their employer. The reason: they hadn’t been paid for two months. On visiting the premises, the labour inspectorate came across many other breaches of hygiene and health regulations.

Manon Mercier Journalist

“Nail styling” has seen phenomenal success in recent years. Some streets in large cities, such as here in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, are overrun with cheap salons. Images: © Sadak Souici (p. 16-23) 17 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 8/29

The employees – most of them from China – sums owed to the employees. At present, 1. The AGS is an of Supply Beauty, a beauty salon located at 50, none of them have been compensated. association set up to allow boulevard de Strasbourg, close to one of the workers in the craft, retail main Paris stations, the Gare de l’Est – came and agricultural sectors to be insured against out on strike in February 2014, after their Unhealthy working conditions, non-payment of the wages employer had not paid them for two months. exploited staff owed to them in execution In this neighbourhood full of hairdressing of their employment and manicure salons – a well-known stop- Inside the Supply Beauty salon, the work- contracts in the event of ping-off place for the Afro community – this ers – undeclared and without official papers their employer going into was a "first". – worked in poor conditions. In its report – to receivership Quickly supported by the French CGT which we were given access – the labour in- union, a number of municipal councillors spectorate described the sub-standard situa- and residents’ associations, the strike soon tion. Its findings included the lack of proper spread to the neighbouring salon on the other ventilation, out-of-service manicure stations, side of the street, in turn alerting the author- the use of badly-labelled dangerous chemi- ities. While their strike marked the start of cals and personal protective equipment unan industrial relations victory in the neigh- suitable for the work. bourhood, with the seven former employees One of the nail technicians remem- of Supply Beauty winning their legal battle, bered suffering breathing problems when employees in other salons are still working working in the salon. Another symptom: a under similar circumstances, with health loss of the sense of smell. On finding another and safety regulations often stamped on. job, her symptoms got better. "Dependent on In April 2015, the manager of 50, boule- the effects, we speak either of acute or chronic vard de Strasbourg was given a 10-month toxicity", explained Aurélien Bucher, a health prison sentence by the Paris court. Two years and safety expert and chemist working for A 12-hour working later, on 23 June 2017, the former employees AMIEM, an association providing medical were summoned before the Labour Court, all services to companies. A 12-hour working day, 6 days a week in expectation of being awarded damages. day, 6 days a week (and 7 days during public Opposing them: nobody. Their employer, Ali holidays), without any leave: all this plays a (and 7 days during D., had left the summons unheeded. Some- role in provoking ailments. Due to their situ- body else had been appointed to represent ation, the employees had never seen a doctor public holidays), the defence, but similarly did not appear at to discuss their ailments. the hearing. The employees questioned told us that without any leave: On that day in June 2017, the former they had had to buy their own products and employees finally won their case. But the personal protection equipment. "Obviously all this plays a role in whole procedure took a long time, with the they took the cheapest ones", said Elie Joussel- Commercial calling in a receiver. At the end lin, section secretary of the French Communist provoking ailments. of the day, the AGS1 will end up paying the Party (PCF) in the 10th arrondissement and 18 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 9/29

very much involved in the movement. "Most of the time, the bosses raise their hands in inno- cence, saying that they bear no responsibility for the quality of the products purchased by their staff." The result: Pascale Heurteux from the CGT remembers having discovered "unla- belled white bottles" on one of his visits to Supply Beauty, a practice in full breach of regulations. The European Cosmetics Reg- ulation2 stipulates that "cosmetic products shall be made available on the market only where the container and packaging of cosmetic products bear the following information in indelible, easily legible and visible lettering: (a) the name or registered name and the address of the responsible person…, (d) particular precautions to be observed in use…, (g) a list of ingredients". A further cause of concern: the wearing of a (fabric) mask as protection against fumes and dust. A mask provides only partial protection for nail technicians. Indeed, it would seem that "such masks even increase 2. Regulation (EC) workers’ exposure to chemical products. The n° 1223/2009. See also toxic substances get deposited on the mask, Working practically non-stop the article on p. 24. i.e, in a dose concentrated around the faces 3. The French National of nail technicians", the labour inspector ex- with only a short lunch break Research and Safety plained to us. Institute for the Prevention Working practically non-stop with only on the premises, the workers of Occupational Accidents a short lunch break on the premises, the and Diseases. 4. FEBEA, the Fédération workers were constantly inhaling toxic sub- were constantly inhaling toxic des Entreprises de la stances. substances. Beauté. Substances judged to be “of high concern”

Ya-Han Chuang, a PhD sociologist at the to mix an acrylic powder – in most cases We managed to gain access to one of Université Paris IV Sorbonne, was with the consisting of benzoyl peroxide (a catalyst) – the suppliers and to obtain all the products workers in 2014. "During the strike, one of with a (monomer) liquid. Depending on the used to make resin nails. The saleswoman the nail technicians employed at 50, boule- brand, the latter usually contains different brought the material: a primer used to in- vard de Strasbourg, confided in me that the kinds of methacrylate. It gives off a strong crease the adhesion of the resin to the natu- staff were well aware that the products they and easily perceptible smell. For the workers, ral nail; no ingredients were marked on the were using were dangerous for their health, the use of this material is synonymous with container, but – according to the INRS3 – it but they had no choice. Among the products gaining time, as the resin, in contrast to gel, basically contained methacrylic acid 2, a they feared most was the liquid used to make is self-drying. All it needs is air. A further monomer, acrylic powder or a "resin soften- the artificial nails". advantage: it costs less than gel. Different er" (acetone). According to our investigations, this liq- to gel, no UV lamp is needed for the resin Régine Ferrère, president of the na- uid was very probably the main cause of their method. "Employees are paid by task and tional federation of beauticians4 took a close ailments. Indeed, to make the resin needed are supposed to make a profit", confirmed look at the products: "There’s no need to to create artificial nails, the manicurists have one of the sources. have them analysed by a lab to know that 19 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 10/29

5. Anses: Agence nationale 6. Évaluation des risques they’re toxic." She then went through the consequences for the health of workers and de sécurité sanitaire des professionnels exposés points not compliant with the Cosmetics consumers". de l’alimentation, de aux produits utilisés dans Regulation: "A number of the products are Studies of air samples taken in nail stu- l’environnement et du les activités de soin et not labelled. On others, the statutory infor- dios – for instance in a report carried out in travail – the French de décoration de l’ongle, watchdog for food, Avis de l’Anses – Rapport mation is only available in English; the INCI 2016 by the State of New York health depart- environmental and d’expertise collective, (International Nomenclature of Cosmet- ment – show the presence of several types occupational health and October 2017. ics Ingredients) has not been used; certain of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such safety. 7. Carcinogenic, Mutagenic pictograms are no longer approved… but at as "acetone, toluene, alcohols and several and Reprotoxic. least there are pictograms." acetates. They were found in nail studios at Among the ingredients listed on the levels higher than those usually observed in packaging was acetone. According to its non-industrial inside air". INRS toxicological factsheet, it is a "liquid This information is confirmed by an giving off highly inflammable fumes, able to Anses5 occupational health report6 pub- provoke severe irritation of the eyes, drows- lished in October 2017. The experts "iden- iness, dizziness, dryness or cracking of the tified some 700 substances present in prod- skin". Another ingredient present in the ucts used by nail studios or found in the air (monomer) liquid: methyl methacrylate. Use in such studios. 60 of these 700 substanc- of this substance can induce the breathing es were considered as substances of very problems and skin or eye irritations. high concern (SVHC), i.e. belonging to the Nicolas Bertrand, an INRS special- highest danger category". INRS specialist The “art” of ist in the prevention of occupational risks Nicolas Bertrand explained that these were explained that "the INRS is calling for the "above all allergenic and sensitising sub- decorating fingernails prohibition of the resin and gel technique stances. CMR7 substances were detected in due to the substances they contain and their minor quantities". Various techniques for decorating fingernails have emerged over the years. Traditional nail varnish, semi-permanent varnish or artificial nails are revolutionising the nail decoration landscape. With regard to artificial nails, two techniques are mainly used by professionals: the “resin” technique and the “gel” technique.

The first one involves making an artificial nail by mixing an acrylic powder and a liquid containing methacrylic monomers. This mixture forms a resin which is then applied to the nail to create an artificial nail. The latter polymerises and is self-drying.

The second one involves the application of several levels of gel, which are subsequently hardened under a UV lamp. This technique is recognised as emitting less (meth)acrylates than the resin technique. However, the Anses report points out that products for shaping artificial nails (resin, gel) “are mainly questionable with regard to workers’ exposure as they contain potentially sensitising, irritating and neurotoxic (meth)acrylic monomers. The solvents and diluents used may also feature similar properties”. 20 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 11/29

My body, my battle Amandine: She then contacted a professor specialised in “I got no support from any occupational allergies. In France, “data on occupational pathologies occupational physician” linked to nailcare and decoration trades is “He requested me to bring him the products limited, with the number of cases identified Amandine has now stopped working as a nail I used at work so that he could carry out a very probably underestimated”, Anses stated technician, with an acute allergy forcing her to few skin tests. He then did a few checks, in a report published in October 2017. Three quit. “When I started working as a nail technician, applying the products to my back to see women* agreed to testify to the health I didn’t have any symptoms. It wasn’t until about whether there were any reactions. After three problems caused by their work. six months after starting that the first signs days, my back was burnt. It turned out that appeared”, remembered the young woman. In the I was allergic to the acrylates found in many salon in which she worked, nobody questioned nail products.” the cosmetic products used there. “But one day, it just got unbearable. The symptoms became worse The professor subsequently told her to give and worse.” It started with red patches on her up her job, telling her there was “a possibility ears and neck. These soon spread to her hands: of her developing more serious conditions “cracks started appearing in my fingers and I had such as angioedema”. Amandine now feels a breathing problems”. lot better. But this experience has marked her for life: “Primarily psychologically, as I felt One morning, Amandine noticed that her alone and just not understood, remembered eyes had become swollen overnight. The the young woman. But also physically. allergy – she was still unaware of its causes – I needed many weeks to recuperate.” became uncontrollable. “I decide to consult an occupational physician. But I got no support at all from them, she explained. I felt utterly exhausted. My body was fighting to survive.”

* At the request of the three women, all forenames have been changed. Amandine was in direct contact with acrylates at her workplace. Her whole body rebelled against them. 21 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 12/29

Caroline: “We need to be aware of the products we’re using”

Caroline is a nail technician and trainer. She remembers that, when she started working in the sector, she suffered severe itching in her hands. She sometimes even got blisters on the tips of her fingers. “I was working in a very allergenic field. After having skin tests done on my back, I realised I was allergic to the gels I was using.”

Despite already having benefited from training, she decided to improve her skills via a new training centre. As a result, she now only buys higher-quality substitute products, less harmful for her health. “I have been trained to understand the various risks and the health and safety standards applying to my work. Now I am the trainer and can pass on my knowledge. We need to be aware of the products we are using and the ingredients they contain.” Wearing gloves limit skin exposure to methacrylates. Anses recommends wearing nitrile gloves.

Sophie: “The trainer made us wear a mask and nitrile gloves”

Sophie decided to become a nail technician after health problems forced her to quit her previous work. “I started off buying low- quality products on the Internet. The results were as expected: I developed eczema on my thumbs, got red patches on the body and breathing problems.”

To learn the rules of her new work, Sophie underwent training. “The trainer made us wear a mask and nitrile gloves. The products we worked with were more expensive, but I stopped getting the symptoms.” In Sophie’s view, all nail technicians need to be trained. “Without training, you’ll find yourself getting problems.”

Wearing a mask provides partial protection for nail technicians from dust arising from the work, for instance when sanding the nails. 22 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 13/29

The experts identified some 700 substances present in products used by nail studios or found in the air in such studios.

8. Article L. 4121-1.

Hairdressers and nail technicians heightened levels of pollutants", Nicolas Ber- them that it is possible to do business and working in the same premises trand emphasised. at the same time to comply with health and Luckily for those working there, nail safety regulations. Elie Joussellin, PCF section secretary in the studios are not above the law. Labour inspec- "The salons at 50 and 57 boulevard de 10th arrondissement, quoted the following torates keep their eyes on them. Employers Strasbourg are not isolated cases. There must from memory: "In the salon at 57 boulevard are accountable and are legally responsible be around 1,500 workers in the sector working de Strasbourg, one employee worked in the for their employees. under such conditions. At present there are basement, without a window and without According to the Labour Code8, "the about a hundred salons belonging to an organ- any ventilation. Even after quitting his job, employer shall take all measures necessary ised network. For a long time, a laissez-faire he had had to consult a doctor for months on to ensure the safety of employees and pro- attitude was cultivated by politicians as a way end due to bad headaches. On top of them, tect their physical and mental health". This of buying a form of social peace", admitted he was plagued by psychological problems." ranges from the installation of an efficient Elie Joussellin. "There can be no question of Working without natural light or fresh air, ventilation system to the provision of person- closing down these salons. Our main wish is he had spent every day at work in a cloud of al protection equipment, as well as making that the workers there are protected and that toxic fumes. available to employees a consolidated docu- the beauty business is properly regulated. The The young man had been hired as a ment assessing the occupational risks. Pierre local council of the 10th arrondissement has hairdresser. Hairdressers and nail techni- Barré, the founder of Hygiène Plus, a consul- since established an action plan. One idea is cians often share the same premises. Premis- tancy specialised in beauty occupations, and to establish a dialogue between the various es are used in a way optimising the available a member of Afrique Avenir, an association stakeholders: salon owners, workers, the local space, with too many employees in relation working for the health of African populations, council and/or trade unions. The objectives to the floorspace. "This sharing can have re- emphasised the importance of "informing are to fight illegal work and to inform employ- percussions on air quality, with the risk of and training beauticians and explaining to ees of their rights", he concluded.• 23 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 14/29

A sector in the grips certain products used by beauty practitioners. when using solvents or acrylic liquids. A For example, we recommend wearing glasses further problem are the fine particulates of change as protection against UV lamps or the use of released when sanding nails, highlighting masks and downdraft tables to prevent the fine the importance of wearing a suitable mask or particulates being inhaled. using a downdraft table to limit exposure. As Régine Ferrère is president of the French for nitrile gloves, these act like a second skin, National Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery What is your opinion regarding the toxic protecting the workers above all from contact Confederation (CNEP), the employer substances found in certain products? with methacrylate. organisation in the beauty sector. Below is her point of view regarding the health In our trade, research is ongoing, i.e. we What are the main developments hitting issues related to the work of a nail don’t wait for a product to be banned before the sector? technician in France. developing new techniques. I would add here that the European Union strictly monitors As in many other trades, everything is In collaboration with the French the sector, banning the use of certain toxic changing so fast. Things we used to do twenty Federation of Beauty Companies (FEBEA) substances. This was the case for instance years ago are being phased out, replaced by and experts from companies producing in 2009 when it banned the use of dibutyl new techniques. For example, the practice of nailcare products, you have compiled a phthalate and n-hexane in cosmetic products sticking on artificial nails using cyanoacrylate brochure targeting beauticians and nail (the European Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No, superglue is slowly disappearing. What we technicians. What does this contain? 1223/2009, ed.). are also seeing is that the trend is towards “gel”, as it is considered to be less harmful and Its main thrust is to prevent occupational What are the occupational risks most the result more natural than when using the risks. The idea was to come up with clear commonly seen in the nailcare sector? resin technique. With regard to gel, organic information, raising users’ awareness of products are now arriving on the market. the problem. We have defined a set of The most pressing problems in our profession There are also some acetone-free solvents occupational risks and analysed the toxicity of are respiratory problems that can occur coming onto the market which are much less aggressive.

If you had any advice to give to somebody wanting to become a nail technician, what would it be?

I would insist on the need to get proper training. Two days training is just not enough to become a nail technician, and especially not when received via YouTube. And then you need to know that prices reflect quality: low prices automatically mean low quality. Customers should always go a well-established studio. It might cost a bit more, but you can be sure it complies with European regulations. And then there are all those products you buy on the Internet in a hurry. The Cosmetics Regulation emphasises the concept of responsibility. I need for example to make sure that all products are properly labelled and that I can contact the manufacturer without any great difficulty. I’m the first link in the chain, as I’m the professional. 24 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 15/29 The European Cosmetics Regulation: consumers better protected than hairdressers

We’ve just been given this lovely new European Cosmetics Regulation, but it seems to totally ignore beauticians, focusing solely on protecting consumers and lab animals. With regard to the health and safety of those whose work is reliant on the use of such products, the measures foreseen are purely… cosmetic.

Tony Musu ETUI

The Cosmetics Directive does not provide sufficient protection for professional users, especially manicurists, who are being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals because of the fashion for nail art. Images: © Martine Zunini (p. 24, 26) 25 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 16/29

1. Wiszniewska M. and Many scientific studies show that those work- Walusiak-Skorupa J. ing in the beauty sector (hairdressers, beau- A number of studies document (2015) Recent Trends ticians, etc.) are exposed at work to a whole in Occupational Contact cocktail of chemical substances and that the link between the occupational Dermatitis, Current Allergy thus they are at much greater risk of devel- and Asthma Reports, 15(7), oping certain occupational diseases (der- exposure of hairdressers to 43. matitis1, respiratory problems, reproductive 2. Kim D. et al. (2016) Reproductive disorders disorders2, various forms of cancer3, etc.). endocrine disruptors and among cosmetologists Estimates put the percentage of hairdress- and hairdressers: a meta- ers likely to suffer from work-related asthma the increased occurrence of analysis, Int Arch Occup some time in their lives at 20%. Environ Health, 89(5), Yet the cosmetic products they use deformities in their children. 739-53. throughout the day supposedly have no ad- 3. Letasiová S. et al. (2012) verse effect on their health. Current legis- Bladder cancer, a review of the environmental risk lation stipulates that "a cosmetic product factors, Environ Health, made available on the market shall be safe 28 June 2012. for human health when used under normal 4. This regulation (EC No. or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use". 1223/2009) abrogates and Unfortunately, the European Cosmetics Reg- assessment report for each cosmetic product replaces Council Directive ulation4 is practically 100% focused on pro- made available on the market. They cannot 76/768/EEC of 27 July tecting consumers, with just a few meagre market a product without having previous- 1976 on cosmetic products, provisions for professional users. Yet, while ly clearly designated a "responsible person" amended seven times since 1976. consumers generally use cosmetic products (a legal or natural person, in most cases the 5. With the exception of for just a few minutes a day, beauticians are manufacturer or the importer) whose role it is certain complex tests (e.g.: exposed to them eight hours a day, five or six to ensure compliance with the relevant safety reproductive toxicity) which days a week, throughout their working lives. requirements set forth in the Regulation. have only been prohibited The Regulation contains a list of sub- as of 2013. stances whose use is prohibited (Annex II) as Beauticians excluded from the early well as a list of those whose use is restricted warning system (Annex III). It also contains a positive list of colourants, preservatives and UV filters Adopted in 2009, the European Cosmetics demonstrated to be safe and approved for use Regulation sets the rules for the safety and in a cosmetic product (Annexes IV, V and VI marketing of cosmetic products in the Euro- respectively). As a result of the massive pub- pean Union. Its aim is to "achieve an internal lic outcry over animal testing to establish the market for cosmetic products while ensuring safety of cosmetic products and their ingre- a high level of protection of human health". dients, the Regulation has banned such prac- Manufacturers are obliged to compile a safety tices in Europe since 20095. Manufacturers 26 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 17/29

6. Polyaminopropyl biguanide (PAPB). 7. Revision of the Opinion on the safety of the use of formaldehyde in nail hardeners, Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, 16 December 2014.

have thus been forced to develop alterna- toxic for reproduction (CMR) in categories 1A Endocrine disruptors tive forms of testing to assess the safety of (proven effects), 1B (presumed effects) and their products. We should remember that 2 (suspected effects). Category 2 CMR sub- Another major gap in the European Cosmet- many of the ingredients used in cosmetics stances may however be used when that have ics Regulation involves protection against the are also to be found in other widely-used been found safe for use by the Scientific Com- risks associated with exposure to endocrine consumer products (medicines, detergents, mittee for Consumer Safety (SCCS). PAPB6, disruptors. Resembling natural hormones, paints, etc.) and that in vivo tests may be for example, a broad-spectrum preservative these chemical substances can interfere authorised in specific regulations covering (and suspected carcinogen) has just been au- with the functioning of a person’s endocrine these products. thorised for use in all cosmetic products (ex- system, leading to harmful effects on those The Regulation provides for a cosmet- cept sprays) at a maximum concentration of exposed or their children (thyroid problems, ics early warning system allowing any in- 0.1%. obesity, hormonal cancers, etc.). Over the formation relating to possible serious unde- Similarly, Category 1A or 1B CMR sub- last few years, many ingredients of cosmet- sirable effects linked to the use of cosmetic stances may in exceptional circumstances be ics such as certain phthalates (plasticisers) or products to be quickly identified. This sys- used when they comply with food safety legis- parabens (preservatives) have been identified tem covers consumers but unfortunately not lation, when there is no safer alternative and as endocrine disruptors or are suspected of professional users. Responsible persons and when they have been found safe to use by the being such. distributors obliged to communicate such ef- SCCS. The use of formaldehyde (a presumed The European Cosmetics Regulation fects to their national authorities will there- carcinogen) is for instance authorised for nail does little to rule out such risks, solely stip- fore only be reporting some but not all of the hardeners up to a concentration of 2.2%7. ulating that the Commission should review serious problems associated with the use of The problem is that the SCCS assesses the regulation by 11 January 2015 when the their products. risks solely – as its name states – for consum- criteria for determining substances with en- ers. The occupational risks associated with docrine disrupting properties are available. the use of cosmetic products are not taken Though these criteria were finally adopted at Carcinogens slipping through the net into account and the European Commission European level in 2017, the Cosmetics Reg- is therefore unable to introduce the regula- ulation has yet to be amended by the Com- The regulation prohibits the use of substanc- tory measures needed to protect the exposed mission. A number of studies document the es classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or workers. link between the occupational exposure of 27 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 18/29

Dyeing: giving priority A further labelling deficiency is that labels do to industry profits not list all ingredients present in a product. over users’ health

For more than a century, para- phenylenediamine (PPD) has been used for dyeing hair (oxidation dyes). This molecule has made (and continues to make) a fortune for many hair product brands. European legislation classifies PPD as a skin sensitiser (i.e. causing allergic skin reactions). The scientific literature hairdressers to endocrine disruptors and the until which the cosmetic product continues to is full of studies showing that the use of this increased occurrence of deformities in their fulfil its initial function). molecule has a devastating effect on dyeing children, such as hypospadias8 among boys9. It must also provide any specific usage professionals, to such an extent that many warnings, at a minimum those listed in An- hairdressers, including apprentices, have to nexes III-VI. Such information is of use for give up their jobs due to their allergy. The Nanomaterials both consumers and professionals (for exam- proportion of people reacting allergically ple: avoid contact with eyes, wear appropri- to PPD within the population at large (for The Regulation contains specific provisions ate gloves). Certain cosmetic products are re- example, consumers dyeing their hair) is when the cosmetic products contain nanoma- served for professional use. Unfortunately, the also fairly high, reaching a rate of 4-6% in terials. Such nanoscale substances are used specific warnings listed on the packaging are industrialised countries*. Nevertheless, this in many cosmetic products as their chemi- in many cases not any more informative than molecule remains an ingredient – along with cal and physical properties often differ from those for general-use products (e.g.: avoid skin many other substances belonging to the same those of larger-scale substances. Suntan lo- contact; may cause an allergic reaction; dan- family – of hair dyes authorised for sale on tions using nanoscale titanium oxide as a UV ger of blindness, read instructions carefully). the European market. The cosmetics industry filter make it possible for example to avoid A further labelling deficiency is that has managed to convince the legislators leaving white marks when they are applied labels do not list all ingredients present in that, “when used under normal or reasonably to the skin. Nanoscale substances require a a product. One well-known gap involves the foreseeable conditions of use, their dyes are special risk assessment. This is why manufac- fragrances used in cosmetic products, a large safe for human health”. turers using them must inform the European number of which are skin sensitisers. Yet, of Commission of such contents. After obtaining the 2,500 fragrance molecules used by the in- * Mukkanna K.S. et al. (2017) Para- the opinion of the SCCS and when there is a dustry, just 26 (i.e. – 1% of existing fragranc- phenylenediamine allergy: current perspectives on diagnosis and management, Journal of Asthma potential risk to human health, the Commis- es) are recognised as allergenic and must be and Allergy, 10, 9–15. sion may include such substances in Annex II listed on the packaging. The other 99% are or III. Their presence in a cosmetic product not listed, i.e. it is impossible for allergic us- must also be indicated by the suffix [nano] in ers to know whether they are present in the the list of ingredients on the packaging. products before using them, possibly induc- ing an allergic reaction.• 8. The urethra opening is not at the tip of the penis. Reliance on labelling More information 9. Kalfa N. et al. (2015) Is Hypospadias Associated Ultimately, the packaging of cosmetic prod- Mengeot M.A., Musu T., Vogel L. (2016) Endocrine with Prenatal Exposure ucts is the only instrument foreseen by the disruptors: an occupational risk in need of recogni- to Endocrine Disruptors? Regulation enabling beauticians to find the tion, Brussels, ETUI, 72 p. A French Collaborative relevant information for protecting their Maraschin J. (2009) Hairdressing and beauty care: Controlled Study of a Cohort of 300 Consecutive health. The packaging must list certain infor- European action for safer workplaces, HesaMag, 1, Children Without Genetic mation, including the name of the responsible 42-45. Defect, European Urology, person, the content (weight or volume), the These two publications can be downloaded free of 68(6), 1023-30. list of ingredients and the shelf life (the date charge from: http://www.etui.org > Publications 28 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 19/29 Health hazard at the gym: instructor insecurity

In a business that focuses on the body, fitness and aesthetics, job insecurity introduces a paradox: those who take care of the body of others pay the price with their personal health. This is the story of Silvia, a fitness instructor and beauty coach whose career shows that job insecurity influences job organisation to the extent that it leads to injuries, illness and stress.

Berta Chulvi Reporter for the Spanish Union Institute of Work, Environment and Health (ISTAS)

A true sports lover, Silvia worked for several years in a fitness centre before her body said “stop”. Images: © Tania Castro (p. 28, 30) 29 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 20/29

"I always wanted to work in something to the downward price spiral: "When I started, do with both sports and beauty," says Sil- I studied in the morning and hosted aerobics "Your whole body is via. Silvia is Spanish, is 38 years old and has training sessions in small gyms in the after- two professional titles, one in sports and one noon. At the time, your income was good, but affected. It is actually in aesthetics, and years of experience as an you had one class here and another there. aerobics instructor, chiropractor and beau- This was inconvenient, but they paid € 15 an a job for the young. ty coach in spa centres in Valencia (Spain). hour and sometimes even € 20 once you had Vocation and passion led her to where she is proven that you could fill up the class. An in- It is hard to keep the today. However, her career shows the effect structor with loyal customers was well paid. of job insecurity on the physical and mental You often worked off the books, without a pace once you have health of staff. They help improve other peo- contract, which meant that if the number of ple’s bodies while they punish their own in an customers decreased you could be sacked on passed thirty." endless race to achieve job security. the spot." Silvia is the prototype of the young Once the low-cost fitness centre chains sportswoman. She studied administration arrived, smaller gyms disappeared and the and started her career working as a manage- employment conditions changed: "now these ment secretary at various companies, but she companies find staff who are willing to enter soon recognised her passion was aerobics and into full-time employment contracts, who beauty. Her trainer told her she had potential have to pound away eight hours a day for a and she quickly decided to keep studying to salary that comes down to € 5 an hour". In- We soon discovered that the breaks enter this professional arena. Even though structors like Silvia emerged from the eco- between classes are not really breaks: "At she had a three-year old son and had just nomic crisis having paid a very high physical most you have a one-hour break between agreed to a divorce, Silvia followed her voca- price: "You stretch your physical limits as an three classes, but, during that hour, you are tion and did all she had to do to obtain the instructor. Six out of eight hours of a single monitoring the area where people work out title of personal trainer. She also trained as day you are working very hard in front of the on machines, which means that even though an instructor for the elderly. class." When a customer joins one of these your body gets a break your mind does not." As a skilled professional she quickly chain gyms they want to attend demanding Silvia then became the monitor for an enor- found a job. Even before having the required classes: "The customer wants to burn off all mous fitness equipment area. An area where professional certification, which "no company their calories within that single hour. You there were up to 1000 people training at the has ever asked me to show," says Silvia. "They have to set an example, work at the same same time during peak hours: "In an area this do not require the certificates because they pace. You need to do all the exercises they do. large there are always conflicts and tension want you to believe they are doing you a fa- If the class sees that the instructor does not between people because the rooms are mas- vour and therefore you enter into a contract at work out as hard as they do or skips a few of sive. There are issues regarding whose turn it a lower level than that of coach," she explains. the exercises, they are deemed to be lazy or is to use specific equipment, people who have Between 2006 and 2014 she worked as out of shape, they often report you because no experience who are not using the equip- an instructor. At first, in smaller gyms and you do not show them how to do the exercise. ment as they should, people who get injured fitness centres and, later, at low-cost fitness They work hard for an hour, you have to work and even fights over the use of the equipment. chains that disrupted the market and started hard all six hours that day." You need to intervene and often the friends of 30 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 21/29

the people arguing or fighting meddle. Some- times they help, but sometimes they make it worse," says Silvia.

Protein consumption

The important question on how to take this level of physical effort is answered as it is often answered in the fitness world. Protein shakes, nutritional supplements for sports- people to regenerate muscle tissue and regain energy after training hard. "During that period, I was consuming many protein shakes," Silvia tells us, "because it is the only food we consume between classes that does not give us a feeling of heaviness." During an eight- hour shift, Silvia was drinking three or four protein shakes: "They tell you it does not have an adverse effect, but I have always thought that I damaged my gall bladder with all those special shakes. During that period, I drank a lot of L-carnitine, guarana and caffeine. Those products are hardcore." During the period when Silvia was very After they removed her gallbladder, is on a small stage to ensure the participants active at the gyms, she suffered from gallblad- Silvia took a one-month break before work- can see the instructor. Alongside the physi- der pain which finally meant she had to go to ing as a fitness instructor again. No-one cal demands, you have the mental demands casualty to have her gallbladder removed: "I asked whether they had to implement chang- which are just as important: "When you have went to hospital on a few nights. They con- es at work: "They do not care. If you do not to instruct a class of more than 50 people, you nected a drip and they cleaned me up. The give the class, someone else will." It is the have some elderly participants and some who analysis usually showed that the transam- instructor who decides to take things slower have never done any exercises. You have to inases were all over the place." The doctors after an operation: "When the class had to do be able to see and integrate these differences asked if she was drinking anything when they crunches I would mark the rhythm and walk and you have to change the exercises on the saw these results. Her GP finally recommend- between the participants to see how they did fly during the class itself." ed that she no longer drink these products: and, once I was back in front, I demonstrat- The instructor suffers because he or "He told me these were not healthy, that they ed a new exercise." she cannot do their job well. The French psy- generate a sand-like accumulation in the kid- The knees are one of the body parts chopathologist Christophe Dejours calls this neys and that they could also affect her liver." that suffers the most: "I have nearly no car- "ethical suffering": "During physical exercise, In the gyms and fitness centres, everyone rec- tilage of the knee and it shows." Foot injuries it is important to complete the movements ommends the protein shakes as it is one more are another issue. Silvia has chronic plantar as they should be completed. If you do some- product line to generate revenue at fitness fasciitis from all the exercising. Muscle tears thing repeatedly wrong, you can injure your- centre chains. The protein shake business and ruptures occur daily among fitness in- self. However, when you see someone doing is growing: estimates show that the protein structors: "Your whole body is affected. It is an exercise wrong you can, at that moment, shake business revenue stream is currently actually a job for the young. It is hard to keep only demonstrate the right way to do it from 96 billion dollars worldwide. Mintel, a Brit- the pace once you have passed thirty." your stage. You do not know the names of the ish market intelligence agency, indicates that participants. You have to refer to them by 42% of male Brits between 16 and 24 years their clothes and ask them to look at how you of age have consumed some type of protein High psychological demands do it, but the class has to continue. You can- product during the past three months. "Fit- not interrupt the class as those who are doing ness instructors consume these frequently," Silvia says there are often more than 50 par- it right would complain. You simply go crazy states Silvia. ticipants in some of the classes. The instructor during such lessons." 31 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 22/29

Trainers in those sectors that are not need to be memorised because the instructor Beauty treatment rooms really institutionalised are actually exposed cannot have a crib sheet during the lesson. to psychosocial superiority attitudes from These choreographies also need to be flexible: When Silvia left the fitness sector, she started participants: "I remember a lesson when a "You need to design a simple basic step that to work in spa centres. First at a well-known girl entered the aerobics class and told me can become more complex depending on the company housed in commercial centres and she was also an instructor. She was watching level of the participants. And you need to find later at a luxury hotel. "In the beauty sector, me from the start. She was judging me. She fitting music to accompany the moves. New you find all sorts," Silvia comments. She has would even make faces and say, I remember music every day." recently started to work at small-scale treat- this step. This girl stressed me out, I even Silvia is actually describing working ment rooms. I ask her to tell us about her work considered not giving that class anymore." days that are, in essence, two working days at the hotel. A luxury hotel in Valencia. "At the Another stressful situation is when there are to which household chores are added too. Sil- hotel, I worked as a chiropractor in shifts. I many elderly participants. These people were via had a step in her home to check that the had a two-hour contract, but I worked six not very mobile. When Silvia lowered the movements fit in with the music and rhythm: hours a day. The official working hours were rhythm a little, the more mobile participants "Standing there and not knowing what to do so few that you could say I was paid per mas- complained "This class has dropped in level" is a nightmare. This also happened to me and sage. It was one massage after the other be- or "Today the class was not good at all". You I had to invent a choreography on the spot as cause, nowadays, there are low-cost massag- heard them saying this within earshot or even you cannot just stand there." Add raising a es and these have decreased the price and the to your face. You left while wanting to ask how child to the mix. Silvia has had no option but salary of the professionals." Companies tight- you could please everyone. take her three-year old to class. "I would tell en up the schedules of the staff to the point him to sit near me while I taught the class. He that they do not even have time to go to the behaved well. Sometimes he would dance a toilet. "One massage is planned immediately Overworked little, but he always behaved well." after another. If you go to the loo you lose ten The world of sports was not what Sil- minutes and the schedule is messed up. And Silvia decided to change her job not due to the via expected it to be. "The body cult produc- as soon as you mess up the schedule, every- physical demands, but the fact that she had to es more disorders and upheaval than you one is angry at you," Silvia explains. combine it with raising a young child: "I was think," explains Silvia. "People are obsessed. The stressful situation for the staff gets psychologically drained. Every day I had to Pressure is high in the modern world. It is a worse when the customers are not on time. prepare six different choreographies. In the competitive world. A disrupted atmosphere. "Say your customer booked a massage at evening, once I was off work, I was prepar- Take the CrossFit trend, a fitness method de- 10 a.m. but arrives fifteen minutes late. The ing dinner and planning the steps and writ- signed to train Californian policemen and po- customer is aware they are late. But they still ing these down in a notebook I kept in the licewomen. It is high intensity, with weights want their 45-minute massage and they check kitchen. I used to fall asleep memorising the and many repetitions with a high risk of in- you do not miss a minute. They sometimes choreographies. You need to prepare different jury. People register just to be able to say they say ‘You did not give me the full 45 minutes’." choreographies every day, you cannot repeat do CrossFit. I would like to ask them: ‘Is your If Silvia says that the customer arrived a little the lessons. If you repeated something, the body ready for CrossFit?’ Sports are healthy, late and that the next person is waiting, she participants would immediately tell you "We but you have to make sure it is really healthy knows it will create a conflict situation and have already done this". The choreographies for you." that management will not support her. "The customer takes his or her time to undress and lie down. After the massage, the customer is relaxed and takes his or her time again. You feel powerless because you cannot rush them out, but you have another customer waiting. You only have one room. You leave the Trainers in those sectors that are not room and the next customer is already in a bad mood because you are fifteen minutes late. ‘We really institutionalised are actually exposed can go in in a moment,’ you say. ‘No problem’," says the next customer. But this already causes to psychosocial superiority attitudes stress. The atmosphere is different when you are not on schedule. You note that the custom- from participants. er is fidgety. You try to make amends by doing something extra to show that you feel bad 32 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 23/29

about the wait. You have to play along but the Sexual harassment to boot After a shocking situation you need to one that is stressed out is you." continue working, you have the next custom- These delays are cumulative and when Silvia has had quite a few nasty moments. er to attend to. "Once you have said goodbye it is time for lunch you only have 10 minutes "One customer took my hand and placed it on to one customer you run back to the room to or even no time to eat. You do not complain. his penis." Silvia interrupted her work when prepare it for the next customer. It is stressful. "There comes a time when you make it work. something so shocking occurred and she even When you start the day and see that you have You play around with the calendar, you cut had to take care of what she said although no break between appointments you think a corner here or there, otherwise you would the situation was violent to say the least. ‘My God, what a day!’. Of course, you pay the be having words with customers all day. And "You need to tell them the following without price at home. You get home very tired, you the centre does not like employees who cause causing offence: Your massage has come to do not even want to eat, you are exhausted." trouble. Often when they say "This customer an end. I will wait at the reception desk. You It seems impossible to continue but you has cancelled" you think ‘Thank God!’" have to wait for the customer at the reception go back. "When you need to pay bills, you take Even when a customer cancels you can- desk, to see if the customer is willing to pay every injustice, all unfair treatment, until you not stop working: "A cancellation does not or not. The customer leaves without a care in find another job. This is why we keep changing mean you have nothing to do! You can never the world. If you call management, they will jobs all the time. You are always looking for take a break, they expect you to restock and not act. I told them and nothing was done. At something better, but every job is just as bad." clean your room, etc. This was always the most, they will bar them from the centre, but A few days after we interviewed Silvia case, everywhere I worked. You can never they usually do not come back because they we returned to take some pictures. She tells stop working, only at meal times. And you are embarrassed." us she has changed jobs yet again. She is cannot eat anything with a strong smell, be- hopeful. They have hired her as a training in- cause the centre will smell of it. Some beauty structor at a company that sells high-quality centres tell you what you can and cannot take beauty salon equipment. She is going to train in for your lunch. Fish is strictly forbidden. the beauticians at the centres that purchase We have our meals in rooms without ventila- the equipment. She is going to travel through- tion, they are stock rooms." out Spain. She is really excited because the This work rhythm causes arm injuries company has demonstrated a real interest in with time. "Imagine that you do 5 massages her profile and Silvia believes she will finally that take 45 minutes without a break. People open a new professional door. It has been dif- like it when you apply pressure on both their ficult to make an appointment. "I have to pre- circulation and muscles. One job caused tend- "When you need to pay pare six training courses and I am working initis in me." When I ask Silvia about the risk like crazy," she writes in her email message. assessments, she laughs: "Never, not at the bills, you take every It is nice to see her happy. gyms, fitness centres or beauty centres, not I cannot help but remember Silvia at 28 once where the occupational risks assessed." injustice, all unfair years of age when she was working on aero- Silvia states there are also biological risks bics choreographies while preparing dinner involved as a masseur. "We touch customers treatment, until you for her boy and I keep my fingers crossed without knowing whether they have an illness. hoping that this time it will work out: that the No-one asks them whether they are healthy find another job." story of job insecurity and suffering does not before we work on them with our hands." repeat itself yet again.• 33 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 24/29 A $10 manicure? The other side of the coin

It wasn’t strikes or even the unions that put a stop to the shameless exploitation of nail salon employees in New York State, but the power of the media coupled with a voluntary policy.

Barbara Landrevie Freelance journalist

In New York the manicure business is propped up by a small docile army of young migrants from Asia and Latin America. Images: © Barbara Landrevie (p. 33-35) 34 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 25/29

Among the major US cities, New York is un- Totally exploited, she earns just $9 an hour1. owners, tips being confiscated when a bottle rivalled in the prevalence of nail salons. San Asked about her boss, she says that she is of nail varnish got accidentally knocked over, Francisco and Los Angeles have less than handled well, even if her boss contemptuous- the absence of masks or gloves, daily racism3, half the NY number of salons per inhabitant. ly calls her muchacha, the Spanish for "girl". unpaid overtime and even unpaid wages. Over the 2000s, the number of salons in the Obviously, she’s tired of resisting – and she’s After publication of the New York Times Big Apple shot up, making the city the US nail been through much worse… story, the customers – the ones who decided salon capital. With such growth totally unan- But change is on its way. The ball was not to boycott their nail salon – started ask- ticipated by the New York State Department set rolling in May 2015 by an investigative ing what employees were earning and what of Labour, it failed to foresee the fatal conse- news story in the New York Times2 on the their working conditions were like. quences of this rapid rise. terrible working conditions and generalised The political response was not long in Behind the sparkling trappings of the exploitation of nail salon employees. coming, reflecting the muscle power of the salons lies an odious reality, perfectly il- The investigation shocked public opin- US media. lustrated by the story of Alba Torres from ion, revealing to an unsuspecting public the A few days after the uproar caused by Ecuador, a story echoing the lives of many terrible fate endured by nail salon employees, the New York Times article, the governor of immigrant manicurists. After paying traf- whether with regard to their health, serious- New York State, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, fickers $12,000, an astronomical amount, ly impaired by breathing in solvents all day, rolled up his sleeves and declared: "If there she arrived in New York at the age of twenty, or to their low wages, varying between three is a state that is going to take a stand against leaving behind her one-and-a-half-year-old and six dollars an hour, despite a New York worker exploitation, it is New York. New York baby daughter. Twelve years later, she still has minimum wage of $8.75 at that time. Further offers a promise that our arms and hearts no papers. And any thoughts of a better life deprivations included no lunch breaks, hu- are open to those who come here to work and in the US have long dissipated into thin air. miliations, constant video surveillance by the build a better future for themselves – and we

1. The current minimum 3. A rigid system of ethic wage in New York State is castes exists in New between $11.10 and $15 York, dictating not only an hour. As part of the workers’ wages but also State budget 2016-2017 their treatment. Korean legislation, Governor Cuomo workers (80% of nail salons signed a law setting a state- are owned by Koreans) wide $15 minimum wage. regularly earn twice as This is set to increase the much as their Hispanic incomes of more than 2.1 colleagues. million New Yorkers across 4. Adhikaar, the Nepalese all industries. word for “rights”, is a non- 2. Sarah Maslin Nir, Perfect profit organisation based Nails, Poisoned Workers, in New York organising New York Times, 8 May current and former nail 2015. salon workers and which works with the Nepalese community to promote human rights and social justice.

Miscarriages, persistent coughs and various forms of cancer are frequent in the nail salon industry. 35 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 26/29

Mandatory ventilation is one of the most radical changes introduced by New York to protect workers.

will not tolerate worker exploitation, period. It’s not a Democratic or a Republican issue – it’s what we believe, and together we’re going to make this a reality." He immediately launched a series of ur- gent measures intended to combat the illegal practices and to improve the working conditions of workers in nail salons, relying on not only the nail salon unions, but also setting up a multi-agency taskforce made up of the De- partments of State, Labour and Health and the tax authorities – an unprecedented move!

Low wages and greedy employers

The workers in the 6,000 New York nail salons are mainly vulnerable Latino and Asian immigrants. Often without papers and speaking little English, they are easy prey for employers with no or little regard for their workers’ health and safety. The industry is character- ised by long hours, with the vulnerable workers inhaling toxic fumes 10-12 hours a day, six days a week. A hermetically sealed world out of the range of health and safety policies until just a short time ago – policies which had informing their employees of their right to immigrant women – have managed to gain a failed at all levels. decent wages and working conditions. nailcare diploma as a result of a new training But the New York governor was go- Without papers, many workers are programme offered by the State of New York. ing to need a long-term strategy to achieve afraid of the US authorities. The Governor’s With the state pushing through significant im- sustainable results. Hampered by language Office has therefore taken the trouble to provements in terms of wages and health, the problems, enforcement of labour rights in an point out that the departments involved in union is now just an empty shell. immigrant economy leaves a lot to be desired. the taskforce will not be looking into the im- This is the reason why Cuomo called in union migration status of the workers during their organisations such as the New York Healthy investigations. New safety norms Nail Salons Coalition (NYHNSC), an organ- The nail salon union organisations isation jointly founded in 2014 by the New have also taken on the task of informing July 2016 turned out to be a turning point for York Committee for Occupational Safety & workers of their right to be fully compensat- nail salon employees in New York, with state Health (NYCOSH) and Adhikaar4. New York ed, irrespective of their immigration status, governor Cuomo issuing the order that all State has since distributed info-sheets on the and is encouraging them to speak up about nail salons would have to install ventilation new regulations in twelve languages and has any mistreatment. systems within the next five years to protect held more than thirty information sessions In 2015 and 2016, the NYHNSC provided their employees from the potentially harmful throughout New York with a view to inform- more than one thousand workers with health effects of the chemical products used in the ing nail salon owners of the new legislation. and safety training in the nail salons and nail salons. Miscarriages, persistent coughs Owners are now obliged to hang up a helped them apply for work permits. Moreo- and various forms of cancer are frequent in copy of the Bill of Nail Salon Workers’ Rights, ver, some 5,000 employees – for the most part the nail salon industry. 36 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 27/29

With the cost of the insurance amount- In May 2016, 143 salons were ing to somewhere between $25,000 and €125,000, nail salon owners were quick to forced to pay two million dollars in react, launching protest movements in the social media and coming out on strike. As unpaid wages to 652 employees. for the employees, they found themselves locked out while their employers protested on the steps of the New York City Hall or in front of the New York Times offices in protest against the new regulations. The shopfronts of a number of salons sported posters accus- ing politicians of using these protective laws to bleed them with fines. The governor’s office stood firm, and by April 2016 4,000 nail salons across the state were already complying with the new regulations. The majority of the nail technicians had to pay their employers for their nailcare training – generally between one and two "Immigrants take some of the most she got a bad surprise on acquiring American hundred dollars, but sometimes a lot more. dangerous jobs and are exposed to con- citizenship: "My fingerprints were practically Training was followed by weeks or months ditions that can literally kill them, if not non-existent". of unpaid work, allegedly as an ‘apprentice- destroy their health", declared governor ship’. Andrew Cuomo, not waiting for the link be- A further measure taken by the gover- tween the chemical products and the work- Tougher controls nor’s office has put a stop to this practice: nail ers’ health problems to be scientifically es- salon employees can now take English cours- tablished. Instead, priority has been given to State labour investigators have cracked es free of charge and receive training while the precautionary principle – there was no down on nail salons since the publication of working, thereby escaping from any abuse on question of employees being left exposed to the New York Times article. Lambasted by the part of their employers. In the first week the dangerous chemical products. the daily paper for only having carried out after the introduction of the new programme, Mandatory ventilation is one of the twenty-five investigations in nail salons in the State received more than 2,000 applica- most radical changes introduced by New the past year, the New York State Depart- tions for training. York to protect workers and make the in- ment of Labor is now working flat out, with Two years later, changes in the industry dustry safer and fairer. Salons not comply- investigations of almost 450 nail salons on- are patchy. While workers acknowledge that ing with the new legislation are now at risk going. The governor has since warned nail their working hours have been reduced, one of being fined and possibly even losing their salons not paying their employees the min- of their main grievances is that employers do operating licence. imum wage that they will be shut down. Be- not want to pay them for any overtime. But Owners must also provide their employ- forehand, it was commonplace for nail salon there have also been changes for the better. ees with suitable personal protection equip- workers to get paid twenty to thirty dollars For instance, 60% of the nail salons now have ment, such as masks and gloves. "Many sa- a day – for a 10-12-hour working day. Under a Bill of Workers’ Rights. lon owners billed us for manicures to pay for the new law, operating a nail salon without Nail salon workers are increasingly these basic supplies", explained Clara Yoon, a licence will become an offence subject to using gloves when working with cotton wool a manicurist with fifteen years’ experience, up to six months’ imprisonment and a max- drenched with solvent and protective glasses "it was common practice." Out on the street, imum $2,500 fine. The New York Depart- when working with acetone or other chemical employees who have spent years working in ment of State is now entitled to close salons products. salons can easily pick out others working in operating without a licence. Breathing masks are available to work- the same trade: "We’ve all got those same cof- In May 2016, 143 salons were forced to ers when filing nails or fashioning acrylic fee-coloured blotches on our cheeks", Clara pay two million dollars in unpaid wages to nails. Wages have increased and are now went on to say, "and I am well aware that 652 employees. up to $9 an hour. And employees in several recent scientific research has proved that Under the new standards, all nail salons salons are also enjoying another unexpect- certain colourants in bright red nail varnish must now take out insurance covering the ed luxury: a lunch break. Strangely enough, cause such skin discolouring". non-payment of wages. "This new provision is prices of manicures and pedicures have re- Gloves are also a ‘must’ for reducing obliging companies to have adequate reserves mained virtually unchanged. In other words, the risk of contracting skin conditions such to meet their statutory obligations. Owners it would seem that owners have not hiked as fungal infections or of developing burns can no longer quickly sell up and then claim their prices to pay their employees more. Be through handling chemical products. The they are unable to pay – a tactic frequently that as it may, one must always bear in mind most striking example is that of Sukhee Lee. used in such cases", said Charlene Obernauer, that there is no such thing as cheap luxury – Having worked with solvents for two decades, NYCOSH executive director. unless someone is being exploited.• 37 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 28/29 “I love it when people tell me about their lives”

Working in the beauty trade requires unexpected practical and theoretical skills, far removed from the general clichés, together with a good dose of psychology. An interview with a beautician.

Denis Grégoire ETUI

Having left hairdressing, Sandy Masy has now run a beauty institute for the past seven years. She would love to be able to take on some staff in order to reduce her workload a little. Image: © Martine Zunini 38 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Special report 29/29

Although I’m just about to leave the hair- ago. For the uninitiated, the nuance is subtle: 1. Published in April dressing and beauty salon, I hand her a copy what is the basic difference between hair- 2015 by Seuil as part of of the book Le corps des autres1. Written by dressing and beautician work? the “Raconter la vie” (The French author Ivan Jablonka, it’s all about the The young woman told me that she story of my life) collection. A historian by trade, Ivan work of beauticians. Immediately recognising spent three years training to become a beau- Jablonka gained fame the book’s pale pink cover, Sandy interrupted tician: "When I talk to people not from my as an author through his me: "I’ve already read it, one of my custom- trade, I can see that they are surprised when book Laëtitia ou la Fin des ers gave it to me." This anecdote tells us a lot I tell them which technical skills and theo- hommes (Médicis Prize and about relationships between beauticians and retical knowledge are needed. You have to the Le Monde Literary Prize their customers. Via this present, the custom- know all the muscles, all the bones, the skin, in 2016), which deals with er probably wanted to thank the beautician the whole lymphatic and circulatory system. a subject dear to the author, that of young women for the good feeling she got from being treated When massaging someone, you need to know confronted with male by her, while also expressing her respect for which muscle you are just massaging, what violence. her and her work. you are just draining", she explained. When "Though not dermatologists, nurses, doing the work, she insists on the protocols social workers, personal coaches or psycho- imposed by the French chain with which she analysts, that’s all part of their work (…) A works as a franchisee. beautician is a socialising ‘body profession- Over and above the opportunity to ac- thought about it a bit, but wasn’t able to give al’", writes Jablonka, whose investigation quire new skills in the vast beauty domain, me an example of anyone wanting to belittle demolished the stereotype of a young super- she was above all guided by human reasons. her. As in every job working with customers, ficial bimbo. "I switched jobs to have more contact she obviously has to cope with bad-tempered In her thirties, Sandy Masy is a million with people, she told me. When they come customers in a hurry or disappointed because miles away from such a stereotype … Wearing to have their hair done, they’re generally in a the result is not up to their expectations or hardly any make-up, she seemed a bit tired hurry, stressed by lack of time. Things are a what they dreamed they would look like. "Ap- on welcoming me in the late afternoon in her lot more relaxed when they come for beauty plying make-up is one of the most difficult beauty salon on the Avenue Louise, Brussels’ treatment. While they obviously come for me things. Women come here with photos from luxury magnet. Her salon belongs to a well- to make them look better, it’s not just that. glossy magazines, wanting to look the same. known Parisian chain of hairdressing and They come to me to talk about their ups and And I have to disappoint them. We apply beauty salons. downs, their intimate problems." everyday make-up, the make-up women wear Sandy has spent her whole working life Comfortable leather seats, white furni- in the street. But what they see in the glossies in the beauty trade. In her teens, she decided ture, the parquet floor, the small room in the is studio make-up. They want to look natural, to take up hairdressing. She spent eighteen basement of the hairdressing salon all invite but at the same time they want the make-up years working for various salons, before de- customers to reveal their deepest secrets. to be perfect. The two just don’t match. They ciding to retrain as a beautician seven years "There are just the two of us, they take contradict each other." off their clothes, they lie there naked, we To placate her customers, Sandy uses transcend their privacy. During hair removal, her communication skills: "I explain to them we touch their legs, their arms. This makes what I’m going to do, how I’m going to do it my customers want to talk, to tell me about and why. I do the same with the few men I get very personal problems, to get things off their here, but I’m firmer with them to avoid any minds. But you always need to end up with a misunderstanding: I need to tell them very positive touch so that they can go home feel- clearly that they’re going to get a massage "During hair removal, ing much more at peace. I love it when people aimed at relaxing the muscles, activating the tell me about their lives." blood and lymphatic circulation, that it lasts we touch their legs, But isn’t it exhausting listening to oth- one hour and how much it costs." er people’s worries the whole day long? "You Though it might not seem that way for their arms. This have to be able to put up a barrier between a customer, comfortably seated in a soft chair you and them, just like a nurse caring for or lying on a massage table, beauty trades are makes my customers her patients. You’ve got to be able to separate physically very demanding. Hairdressing in- things. When you give someone a massage, volves standing up all day, manicures mean want to talk, to tell me you massage away all the bad energy. I’ve that employees spend hours sitting with their learned ways of dropping everything, leaving backs arched, massages mean bending over about very personal everything behind you. You mustn’t become all the time, straining all kinds of muscles. a sponge, soaking everything up", she ex- "I’ve got a lot of back problems, admit- problems, to get things plained to me. ted Sandy. At the end of the day, I feel like a On asking her about the picture she gets machine when looking at the hours I put in. off their minds." back from her salon’s clientele, in this fashion- But I just love my work. I wouldn’t want to do able district of the European capital, Sandy anything else."• 39 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 From the unions 1/4 Fighting for the factory, only to die for it The exemplary fight of the former Givors glassworkers

French sociologist Pascal Marichalar recently published a noteworthy book on the mobilisation of former workers of a glassworks linked to Danone, the food giant. Several of them have developed work-related cancer. His investigation, which he accepted to resume for HesaMag, is much more than a university study. It is also a vibrant homage to a union activist, his family and the world of glassworkers.

Pascal Marichalar Sociologist

Roland Sorbier worked in a glass factory for 38 years. He is in good health but his wife, Nicole, wants him to have medical checks because of the numerous toxic substances to which he was exposed. Images: © Hugo Ribes (p. 39-42) 40 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 From the unions 2/4

In 2001, the employees of a glassworks 1. Scott J.W. (1980) The 2. The CGT is one of the before my arrival in Givors, the victim of threatened with closure started their desper- Glassworkers of Carmaux, three largest confederations, two tumours. Throughout my investigation, ate fight to keep it open. Without success: its Harvard University Press. alongside CFDT and FO. his moustached and smiling face would look gates closed in January 2003. Moriceau C. (2009) Les down on me from a picture-frame hanging on douleurs de l’industrie. A few years later, the same people who L’hygiénisme industriel en the walls of the premises occupied by the as- had wanted to keep the gates open were back France, 1860-1914, Paris, sociation of former Givors glassworkers. on the streets again, this time to have the EHESS. Starting work at the glassworks in the deathly consequences of their past working early 1970s, Christian worked mainly on the conditions recognised. A contradiction? The production side. Standing in front of the ma- mystery is at the heart of my book, a book re- chines dripping blobs of molten glass, hold- sulting from an investigation conducted with exposed and to compile a history of the ac- ing a brush steeped in mineral oil, it was his (rather than on) the Givors glassworkers. tion (or inaction) of the institutions respon- job to grease the moulds – hard and very hot sible for protection. I originally saw this work shift work, engulfed in a mist of oil and sub- as having two purposes: first it could help ject to incessant noise. A collaborative investigation advance our "pure" knowledge – the main A CGT2 activist, Christian was sensitive works on working conditions in industrial to the question of working conditions, as his I am a sociologist, specialised in work-related glassmaking, for example those of Joan Scott father had been killed by a machine in the health issues. In January 2013, a colleague and Caroline Moriceau, relate solely to the neighbouring metalworking factory. Within informed me that an association of glass- 19th century1; second, it could be used by the the CHSCT, the mandatory committee for workers was seeking a collaboration with association in support of its action. health and safety and working conditions in scientists to help them get the work-related The glassworkers’ association accepted, French companies with at least 50 employ- cause of their diseases recognised. despite the fact that they were looking mainly ees, he and his comrades has issued warn- A few months later, I got off the train in for support from doctors (luckily, they were ings about the use of prohibited products, Givors-Ville, a 20-minute ride from Lyon. In also to gain it). I soon found myself conduct- the risks associated with asbestos, the need front of me I saw the tall brick chimney stack, ing a series of long, deep-going and general- to have spare work clothes. Repeatedly tak- all that remains of the Givors glassworks, ly collective interviews, in which the former ing a stand for the union, he was sometimes established in 1749 by decree of Louis XV. glassworkers remembered long-forgotten punished by being given one of the most un- Historical research presents it as the first in- episodes of their work, both good and bad pleasant jobs in the glassworks: taking a trac- dustrial glassworks in France, as its furnaces moments, trying to make sense of what had tor down into the dark basement beneath the were heated not by wood, but by coal. Smoke happened to them. furnaces to pick up any fallen red-hot glass rose out of its chimneys for more than two- Working together with Laurent Gonon, and bring it up to the raw materials depot. and-a-half centuries. a former printer and a prolific local activist, Christian’s wife, Mercedes, had to tour The reason for its closure in 2003 was I discovered that the largest part of my work the shops to find a shampoo able to get the the decision of the Danone Group to give up its had already been done by the glassworkers mineral oil used for greasing out of his hair. glass-making activities, and to shift its busi- and the people supporting them. They knew She finally found one, in a chemist’s. ness focus away from the container (glass) to all about the diseases plaguing them. And Though the glassworkers were aware of the content (yoghurt and mineral water). The they had also identified the names of the tox- the dangerous character of their work, they timing is explained by a leveraged buy-out ic products to which they had been exposed. were also glad to have a stable job, somewhat opportunity which saw the group’s directors All that remained for me was to write this better paid than elsewhere, and to enjoy the earning a lot of money by first restructuring story, delving into the sociological mysteries dignity and prestige that went with working the group and then selling it to the main com- running through it. as a glassmaker. Above all, they were under petitor. The glassworkers fought the closure the impression that everything had been for one-and-a-half years. In vain. done to minimise the risks, and that any re- I started by offering them a historical Portrait of a union representative: maining risks were unavoidable "risks of the investigation. On the basis of interviews with Christian Cervantes trade": fire, heat, the noise of the machines, former glassworkers and a lot of research the danger of getting your hands burnt in a in the archives I would be able to access, I Christian Cervantes is, or rather was, the mould. suggested establishing a chronology of the key figure of my investigation. Alas, I never From April 2001 onwards, Christian working conditions to which they had been met him, because he died in 2012, one year was one of the leaders of the industrial action against the closure. Right to the very end, he was convinced that it could be avoided. When the union lawyer announced that the end of the road had been reached and that all that remained was to negotiate the redundancy package, the disappointment was great. Above all, they were under the impression But Christian, unlike many of his colleagues, did not fall into a depression. Hav- that everything had been done to minimise ing been given early retirement due to his age – he was 55 at the time –, he "spent his the risks, and that any remaining risks were time out cycling, going for long walks, working in the garden and doing odd jobs around unavoidable "risks of the trade". the house", according to a local journalist who wrote an article about him. Together with his 41 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 From the unions 3/4

Mercedes Cervantes is the widow of Christian Cervantes, a former trade union representative of the Givors glass factory, who died in 2012 after two bouts of cancer.

situations. Apart from the shift work, the as- In France, as elsewhere, recognition of an bestos, silica or nickel, there were other more insidious risk factors, for instance the min- occupational disease is always on an individual eral oils used for greasing the moulds. The safety factsheet of one of the products clearly basis, needing to be gone through by each stated that it was not dangerous when used correctly. But what did the usage instructions individual worker. say? "Do not heat"! Unbelievably, the product was used to grease glass moulds onto which a blob of 800°C molten glass fell every second. On being heated, the oil decomposes into a mist of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), highly carcinogenic substances. The glassworkers were indignant when they found out that certain products were known to be dangerous, but that they had not been informed. Becoming aware of all this ultimately converted them into ‘health crusad- colleagues, he thought about opening a glass- she wanted to hand out a health questionnaire ers’, spurred on by the surprise closure of the making museum exhibiting the machines and to the association’s members to put a figure factory. After having given everything to keep other items they had managed to save from be- on her intuition that something was wrong. the factory running and produce high-quali- ing destroyed. He also spent a lot of time sup- But Christian was reticent. "You don’t bite the ty work, they found themselves confronted porting the actions of his colleagues who had hand that feeds you", he was wont to say. As with the indifference of the bosses and their been redeployed in other glassworks which one of his daughters told me, he had a strong disdain towards the workers and what they were now in turn threatened with closure. feeling of loyalty towards the glassworks. The did. A profitable business was sacrificed, as But then came the big shock: Christian same was true for Laurent Gonon, the intellec- were many of its workers. was diagnosed as having throat cancer in tual local activist who was asked by Mercedes 2005. He underwent a very disabling opera- to help her compile the questionnaire. Wasn’t tion, before going onto weekly chemotherapy. this investigation going to go against all the ef- Managing the glassworkers’ feeling In 2009, following a period of improvement, forts put into keeping the factory open? of injustice a further malignant tumour was found, this Nevertheless, the two ended up accept- time in his mouth. ing the move. Of the 208 responses received, In autumn 2009, the glassworkers’ associ- 98 reported cases of cancer, prompting them ation called for, and obtained, a meeting in to move to the next stage: to identify the caus- Givors town hall with representatives of the Popular epidemiology es. This investigation was typical of what is State. "We want collective recognition of the called "popular epidemiology". Without the occupational diseases", they stated, under the This was all too much for Mercedes Cervantes. backing of scientists or institutions, the vic- impression that this would be the first step One day on hearing the chairman of the asso- tims themselves have to do all the research towards getting justice. But they were told ciation of former glassworkers announce yet and correlation work. that things were not that easy. In France, as another death of a colleague, she got angry: Going through the archives and listen- elsewhere, recognition of an occupational "Don’t you realise that you’re all set to die, one ing to the testimonials of former glasswork- disease, i.e. the granting of compensation after another? When are you going to start ers, Laurent Gonon ended up identifying a by a state-run system providing insurance asking why?" With the help of her daughters, number of carcinogenic products and work against occupational risks, is always on an 42 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 From the unions 4/4

not individually. Such insane requests were a In the glassworks, as elsewhere, the majority similar stumbling block for asbestos victims in France. of the risks to which workers are exposed have been known for a long time and are avoidable. … without solving the problem

I had the opportunity to visit a glassworks, at the invitation of the CHSCT secretary. I was stupefied to see production workers surrounded by the same oil mists as seen on the videos secretly made by the Givors glassworkers. In another glassworks, an employee showed me that they had just begun to use ex- actly the same oil as in Givors, the one decom- posing into carcinogenic PAHs when heated. The same person also told me that the screen at the factory gates displaying "86 days without a work-related accident" was not telling the truth: a colleague had got a red-hot bottle in his face just a week before my visit. Howev- er, management had passed off the accident as being "en soins" (in care), i.e. suggesting that it had happened at home. "They’re just out to break the record – 178 days without an accident, if I remember rightly." New risks are appearing. The "environmental" filters installed on a number of chimneys to capture carcinogenic substances need to be regularly cleaned. This work is done by subcontractors. The workers put on overalls before going up to the small confined spaces containing the dangerous substances spewed Vincent Rizzi worked in the Givors glass factory for 42 years. At work he was exposed to noise up by the glassworks. Expert studies have levels of up to 120 decibels. He is hard of hearing but considers himself “fortunate” as he has so far shown that this type of work should have the managed to avoid any more serious problems. same draconian requirements as asbestos removal. But that’s not the way the employers see things. individual basis, needing to be gone through The procedure for obtaining compen- On starting their fight for health at by each individual worker, even if they have sation for occupational diseases is the main work, the Givors glassworkers clearly stated all done the same work and have developed way used by the public institutions to channel that prevention was one of their main objec- the same diseases. the victims’ feeling of injustice. The bottom tives. One of the ways to give sense to the dis- It is also a complex procedure, weighed line: justice is done when the victim receives eases that have carried away so many of them down by bureaucratic hurdles and fraught a lump sum of money, in compensation for a is to say to yourself that current and future with absurd decisions which in most cases disease listed in the relevant texts. As long generations will be able to enjoy their full re- have nothing at all to do with the scientific as one is not "recognised", one cannot legit- tirement, in good health. In the glassworks, knowledge on the possible links between imately claim to be a victim. And when one as elsewhere, the majority of the risks to work and health. Again, Christian Cervantes’ finally gains recognition, one is no longer a which workers are exposed have been known story is exemplary. After having initiated the victim, as the damage has been "repaired" for a long time and are avoidable… If there procedure to have his cancer recognised as (i.e. compensated). is one consolation, it is that your death will an occupational disease, he told his health The Givors glassworkers are very dis- benefit others.• insurance company about the complications satisfied with these procedures, as evidenced arising from the second tumour. He was told by the fact that they have taken many other that he would have to initiate a second recog- paths. "I don’t want to be the co-assassin of my nition procedure, as this tumour was consid- fellow workers", wrote Christian Cervantes ered as a second disease, unconnected to the in a letter to the Minister of Labour one first. After a series of (non-justified) rejec- month before his death. Christian had even tions, followed by appeals, expert reports and filed criminal charges, but the procedure got hearings in the social security court, Chris- bogged down when the investigating judge tian’s two cancers were finally recognised in called on the experts to prove what could not 2014 and 2015 (the first in the court of appeal, be: that this case of cancer had been caused Marichalar P. (2017) Qui a the second one level higher). Unfortunately, by this period of work in this factory. Such tué les verriers de Givors?, too late for Christian: he died in 2012. links can be demonstrated statistically but éditions La Découverte. 43 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 International news 1/5 The legend of Luigi Di Ruscio

In post-war Italy, Luigi Di Ruscio, a self-taught writer, was an unemployed bricklayer and a grassroots activist in the PCI. Luigi Di Ruscio emigrated to Norway in 1957 and found a job in a nail factory. “I wanted to write what people don’t usually write; the destitution of working-class streets, the wretchedness of poor people”, he would confide later on. A year after his death, the writer Angelo Ferracuti made the journey northwards, on the trail of the metalworker poet.

Angelo Ferracuti Journalist and writer

Drawing on a daily existence where no one speaks his language, either in the factory or at home, the worker- writer Di Ruscio freely interweaves novel, autobiography and poetry in his book. Image: © Angelo Ferracuti (p. 43-46) 44 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 International news 2/5

I was still a little boy when I began hearing jargon that intentionally overlay the struc- fights between young Italians and Norwe- about Luigi Di Ruscio. I was flipping through tures of cultivated and literary language and gians because of the girls, as one of his Tus- an album of black and white photos, a remind- give a more incisive result. Individual biogra- can friends, Danilo Rini, told me: "they were er of the short Norwegian lives of my uncle phy, collective biography, portraits of people provocative, and also had something against and aunt, who had emigrated to Norway in made weary by work; and, from time to time, Italians because they had been the allies of the fifties. I remember his appearance: a very especially in the clauses of the compositions, the Germans during the war, and they were thin, serious-looking man, with a full head of atrocious statements that threaten us with jealous too because we were more forward very dark hair – I think the photo was taken their rhythm."* with women and livelier. When he did go out, at Vigeland Park in Oslo – and they said he The lack of work was perhaps the main it was to go to the dance floor with the or- was a writer. That is how his legend entered reason that drove him to emigrate to Nor- chestra and with the girls." my life for the first time. way in 1957, after a first false start in France. He was born in Fermo in 1930 in an un- Some people think that he left to join my un- derclass family and dropped out of school at cle and my aunt, Cesare and Dina, with his Personnel number 27, workshop B12 an early age to go and do various jobs, work- first book of verse in his pocket. My aunt, ing as a labourer, a house painter and a wed- who was working for a major dressmaker’s, This is what Luigi Di Ruscio wrote in the first ding photographer. At the age of forty, he was purveyor to the Court, went to a great deal period of his Norwegian memoirs: "I arrived already a grassroots militant in the PCI (Ital- of trouble to find him his first job as a dish- in Oslo with fifty Norwegian kroner, barely ian Communist Party) of Palmiro Togliatti washer. The owner, who was not well inclined, ten thousand lira, I slept in a Salvation Army and was writing verses. reading the references provided by a shapely, shelter, I found a job as a dishwasher, and a "I picture an unruly and insolent school- good-looking girl, said to her: "listen lady, if few months later I found a job in a factory, we boy, up to his eyebrows in ink smears, with you manage to obtain a work permit, I will were happy, we had a bedroom measuring the teacher hitting him over the head with a take him on", but, in reality, it was as if she nine square metres, a bed, a table with a chair, copy of the Corriere della sera"; all this right was the one who was hiring him. Before go- a sink and an electric hot plate". He lived in in the middle of the Fascist era. That is the ing back to Italy, Uncle Cesare gave Luigi his that city for 54 years, got married, had chil- snapshot by the literary critic Massimo Raf- wedding suit together with the job that he dren, wrote collections of poetry and novels faeli, taking a few excerpts from the coming- had in the nail manufacturing factory, Chris- and thousands of letters. Appreciated by Ita- of-age story Apprendistato. tiania Spikerverk, where Luigi was employed lo Calvino, Paolo Volponi and by the Nobel Di Ruscio wrote: "We used to live in an as a worker on the nail drawing machines for Prize winner Salvatore Quasimodo, this case unheated home in an alley. There was soup thirty-five years. of never-ending literary interest fascinated for midday meal and boiled potatoes or salad When he arrived in Oslo, he spent his many generations of writers, including mine. in the evening. My first collection of writings nights in the Salvation Army dormitories, That is why, a year after his death, which oc- has merely something to do with my every- did shift work at the nail factory and hung curred in February 2011, I wanted to return day experiences, with what I was, with what out with the members of the small Italian to Oslo. we were, with the language we spoke".*1 His community. The Italians used to meet on Adrian, his youngest son, lived in a very debut collection, Non possiamo abituarci a Saturday mornings in the centre streets, ordinary and quiet suburban district, like morire (We cannot get used to dying), was where they would chat and drink a coffee. In the whole of the slightly Orwellian city. You printed by Schwarz in 1953. the evening, they would go and dance at the feel, more than elsewhere, the existentialist Franco Fortini2 hits the nail on the head Regnbue, the place where he met his wife, atmosphere of Fahrenheit 451, the novel by from the outset in the introduction: "We feel Mary Sandberg. They would often shy away Bradbury, but above all the atmosphere of the the effects of the spoken language and of the from the local people, fleeing the furious film that Truffaut made of it. It was not only a

1. The paragraphs marked with an * have been There, Luigi, divested of his dark work translated freely. 2. Italian writer, poet and literary critic (1917-1994). overalls, came out of the shower, stopped being Also known as Franco Lattes. a worker and clocked on as a writer, holed up 3. Di Ruscio, L. (2004) Le mitologie di Mary, in his room and writing late into the night. LietoColle, 106 p. 45 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 International news 3/5

visual matter, I thought, but an auditive one. The sounds were always clear, the wide-open spaces made it easier to differentiate them, like the rattling of the rails of a train arriving at the Rodtvet underground stop, on line 5, close to a large prison. When I arrived on the first afternoon at dusk on an autumn day, the streets were deserted, all the windows were already lit in the buildings. You could discern the silhou- ettes of the persons inside. Adrian’s apartment is on the first floor, and I had barely crossed the threshold and gone through the door, small but cluttered with shoes on the floor, when the first thing I noticed was the tiny, stylised portrait of Luigi made by the painter Ernesto Treccani, with a few horizontal, vertical or oblique lines like the coloured sticks of a Mikado. In the living room, on the shelf, (and certainly not by chance), alongside Brecht, a monumental Ulysses by James Joyce; all Luigi’s books that he had given with a ded- ication to his son and signed Pappa, which means Dad in Norwegian. A little higher up Luigi Di Ruscio (second on the shelf, there were a few objects from from left) worked in a nail factory on the edge the Fordist factory where he worked for forty of Oslo for 35 years. years: the personnel number, 27, the badge of workshop B12, the grey goggles with the dark lenses to protect the eyes, like those that welders put on every morning at the Chris- tiania Spigerverk factory. his window, view the suburbs made of iden- iron bars, but on number ten, the one that We had fantasised a great deal about tical buildings, carefully tended gardens and makes the steel wire. It is restful work; I that factory. For those of us who had read icy, half-empty streets. There, Luigi, divest- have been doing the same job for ten years Di Ruscio, it was not only the mechanical ed of his dark work overalls, came out of the and it has become automatic; I could go on engineering factory that produced top-qual- shower, stopped being a worker and clocked doing the same job even if I became blind". ity nails, known throughout Europe; the on as a writer, holed up in his room and writ- Talking about his daily work, he would say in Spigerverk was the total factory, the facto- ing late into the night. a few verses that his machine would become ry of literature, the workshop of a circle of In his memoirs, La neve nera di Oslo the eternity of cosmic alienation: "We start hell, Chaplin’s factory in Modern Times and, (The Black Snow of Oslo), last volume of a our day at six / we are the start of every day above all, the factory where Luigi thought narrative trilogy that begins with the very / time starts to spin on the drawing machine literature which he would write down once Italian Palmiro, Luigi wrote: "Once my shift / it is waiting for me open-mouthed / my he had returned home on his bike in anoth- was ended, I plunged once more into writing, dance, my show begins".* er suburbs of Oslo, at number 4c Aasengata heedless of all the events that came my way. I street, in that apartment where he lived with bravely put up with all the mockery aimed at Mary Sandberg, the singing wife and muse the Italian poet who works in an Oslo factory. The ironworker of Mythologies3. There have never been metalworker poets in It was also the place where he raised Norway but, when it comes to Italians, any- Adrian was the only child with whom he four children and wrote like a madman all thing is possible."* talked about music, the visual arts, literature his life, in a little room, as narrow as a pris- In a letter dated 6th November 1967, and, above all, politics. Adrian said to me on cell, with only the most basic furniture. he told my Uncle Cesare: "I am still work- that his father considered himself as a prod- Bent over his writing desk, he would punch ing where you used to work, not on machine uct of history. "My poetry is not a privileged the keys of his mechanical Olivetti and, from number nine, the machine for the square moment; my entire writing is a privileged 46 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 International news 4/5

moment. It is also a privilege in an historical a postman dragging his red metal trolley and leaving only my footprints in the whiteness, I sense: without a five-day week, without the walking quickly through the Treschows gate turn around to look at them". hourly wage that allows me to buy books, I and came upon other, recently built buildings Skirting the river, we reached a small would not have been able to write. It is as if blending into the greyness of the sky and the wooden bridge, beyond which we began to I said that, without the all-out strikes that asphalt of the street. see the houses of another district, painted the Norwegian working class staged during After that block of buildings, we en- yellow, and then, continuing our walk, we the thirties, I would not have been entitled to tered the woods by following a path through came across even more recent houses, full such a privilege. Without the gains made by the dense trees with their dead and yellow- of glass windows, and, in the middle of them, the western working class, I would not have ing leaves. The Akerselva river flowed along- the old building of a red-bricked, industrial been able to write. If I had remained in Italy, I side. Luigi Di Ruscio rode through here every plant; two distant worlds living together. We would only have been able to write in prison; morning on his bicycle, pedalling through the finally arrived at the large open space where when I was working in Italy, I could not write darkness, wrapped tight in his jacket. And he the ruins of the factory stand. Only rubble since the working week was too long and ex- always returned home in the night through and barriers remain. A worker explained to hausting. I would go back home just to sleep" 4, that dense woods and sometimes through the us that the machines had already been tak- he explained in an interview with Giancarlo falling snow: "Count all the times that I left en away and only piles of old pipes lay aban- Majorino5, a discussion that closes Istruzio- the factory in the middle of the night, coming doned in the surviving workshops. Adrian ni per l’uso della repressione, published by away from the workshop at night-time after frantically continued to take photos. It was Savelli in 1980. having breathed for hours on end the infer- the first time he had entered the workshop In Oslo, I also went to visit the cemetery nal stench of the tanks full of sulphuric acid; where his father used to work. A blast fur- where Luigi was buried. His grave is a small I breathe in hell and yet I return home walk- nace used to operate at the bottom of the hall marble slab with the inscription "Italian poet" ing in the fresh, soft and immaculate snow; where we were standing. under the given name and surname". I then met his wife Mary, his children, his lifetime friend, Domenico Trivilino, and the elderly 4. The last sentence pensioners from the Italian social club. Dani- is a free translation. lo Rini, of course, but also the cobbler Gros- Translator’s note. so, and Giuseppe Valvo, the Sicilian who had 5. Italian poet and teacher, been his editor for so many years. I am refer- born in Milan in 1928. ring to the person who read the rough draft of his books and gave him advice which Luigi accepted in the first instance and then rejected and then took into consideration once again, after which they embarked on emphat- ic discussions that called their old friendship into question every time. The friends from the Italian social club were the ones to nick- name Luigi "lu fierru", with reference to his job as an ironworker. But before leaving, I thought it would be a good idea to go and visit the factory, Christiania Spigerverk, or at least what remained of it after its recent dismantling. That is how, one morning, accompanied by Adri- an, we made our way on foot along the route that Luigi followed every day on his bicycle to reach the factory. Emerging from a tree-lined path, we found ourselves on the main street, a long, desolate, straight avenue bordered with old and new buildings, ghostly industrial plants with reddish walls, and with the rails of the blue tram laid on a strip of grass running through the middle and the occasional car to break the silence of the street. We saw 47 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 International news 5/5

and taking off our everyday overalls, we saw "Without a five-day week, without the hourly each other’s tiredness, and then we began to die or to disappear, a few pensioners would wage that allows me to buy books, I would not come back to see us, we saw them emerging among the machines, paler, more awkward, have been able to write." they now seemed to be the ghosts of what they were, I have them all in front of me now, they are passing before my eyes just as I saw them for the last time, there had been one who was a Communist, at the most, someone was from the social-democratic left".* Before returning towards Rodvet, Adri- In La neve nera di Oslo (The Black accompanied by Domenico Trivilino. We an and I stopped to buy meat at the butcher’s Snow of Oslo), this place is described in a met in the meeting room on the fourth floor where he used to go with his father, a few very comical way: "Here is the factory, the of a building in Grønland, the multi-ethnic blocks away. He told me that they would usu- workshop that demands frantic mobility un- district of Oslo. Before going in, we posed ally go together to buy fruit and vegetables in til I collapse with exhaustion. I have to oper- in front of the huge clenched fist holding a shops kept by immigrants, often Turks. One ate three drawing machines, running from rose, placed on the pavement in front of the of them always asked Luigi: "Which country one spot to another among the entangled entrance, symbol of the workers’ social-dem- do you come from?", but he did not like nos- wires. I am the worker most surrounded by ocratic organisation, Fellesforbundet. It is the ey parkers. In fact, he would often say to his tin cans in the entire history of the indus- largest Norwegian trade union in the private son: "Stupid people always ask for informa- trial revolution. In the age of automation, I sector, of which Di Ruscio was a member. tion, but never give any". Luigi was a contrar- am the worker operating three prehistoric Landemo knew nothing about Luigi’s life as ious man and would therefore answer with a wiredrawing machines leaking oil and water a writer either. In fact, he was also astounded cheeky counter-question: "Why do you ask?". from all sides, and I put peeled tomato tins when I told him that a great Italian publisher More often than not, he preferred to remain emptied at home wherever I can so as not to had printed his best works (Romanzi, Feltr- silent. Adrian laughed while continuing to flood the floor". inelli, 2014). He was not a close and familiar tell the story. He went on to tell me that one acquaintance of Luigi but had spoken with day, his father was in a bad mood, either be- him on more than one occasion: "I remember cause the shopkeeper had increased his pric- “Damned for a world of damned” that he always had the gift of creating enjoy- es, or because the fruit was not of such good able, humorous moments, with a joke, a quip, quality as usual. When the shop owner asked Just at the back, in the same building, where always in a pleasant, smiling way, and during him for the umpteenth time "where do you the original plant once stood, a twin factory section meetings, he often took part in the come from?", Luigi had lost his temper and was now located and produced shovels for discussions. He was active; he was present. I answered him while raising his voice, "You shovelling snow, called Elkem. When we ar- remember that he expressed himself differ- want to know where I come from? I come rived, an extremely thin and very smiling sec- ently from the Norwegians, both in his man- from hell!". retary arranged for us to talk to a gentleman ner of speaking and his hand gestures. The Adrian would never forget that moment: with a very casual and yet very bourgeois factory employed workers of at least thirty "I understood; he had come to buy fruit and style, who showed us inside the plant, to the different nationalities". not to answer questions about his nationality. stores in which thousands of shovels were He then asked me a question. He want- Perhaps everything has to do with the racism piled, where the old Spigeverket once stood. ed to know if Luigi had actually mentioned that the Italians had to endure in the sixties. He asked Adrian why we were visiting the the name of the factory in his works. I there- I remember him telling me: Your mother was plant. He spoke to him of his father, an Italian fore read him in Italian a short passage from brave to marry me." writer who used to work in the nail factory. The Black Snow of Oslo, which Trivilino then In a famous poem, Luigi Di Ruscio "A writer working in the factory?", the man translated: "When I started working in the had depicted in verse his condition as an ex- asked, most astounded. "That’s right," Adrian factory, I was the youngest of the group of ten patriate and how he liked to define himself: replied proudly. The guy’s face could not hide or so workers on the same machine line and on "everywhere the last for that horrible race of a sceptical grimace and then he greeted us by the same shift, we grew old together, we had those who come first/last in his land with a shaking hands. a sense of solidarity, relations were forthright, thousand lire a day/last in this new land be- When, later on, I met Reidar Landemo, brisk and even fraternal, a cheerful relation- cause of his Italian voice/last to hate and that leader of the metalworkers’ union and some- ship too, for years we saw each other naked man’s hatred marks everything/unnailed one who had been a foreman at the Spigever- in the same showers, in the locker room we and crucified at every moment/damned for a ket factory and had known Luigi, we were undressed and dressed together putting on world of damned".*• 48 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Books 1/2

The conversion of an “agri-manager”

Had it not been for the accident on a herbicide made by the US fi rm Monsanto, he corresponded to episodes when the solvent or 27 April 2004, Paul François would un- left his huge crop sprayer sitting in the sun. the weed killer were being sprayed. doubtedly have continued to work as a good When he went back to work, he thought it was In February 2012, Paul François had soldier of the agro-industry. Back then, this empty, opened the 2 500-litre tank and put his fi rst victory, when a Lyon court ruled that ordinary man, who was soon to become the his head through the gaping hole. An intense Monsanto was responsible for poisoning him. symbol of the fi ght against the pesticide in- heat hit him in the face and soon spread to his Monsanto appealed and still maintains that dustry in France, was not yet 40, but he was entire body. strategy today, but the obstinate Charentais already in charge of a farm of over 240 hec- Feeling nauseous and dizzy, and unable has held fi rm. tares. In every regard he fi t the mould of the to speak without stammering, he went to his His book’s appeal lies less in its reve- typical post-Second World War farmer. Born bedroom to rest. As the symptoms did not lations of the pressure applied by the multi- into a Charentais family of cereal growers, ease, his wife, who had trained as a nurse, national, which are scarcely surprising given supporters of the powerful agricultural drove him to casualty. the many recent press investigations into the trade union FNSEA, Paul François carried He thought that the sickness would be St Louis fi rm, than in its telling of a personal out intensive farming that was dependent on short-lived and could not have begun to im- journey. chemicals and could produce large volumes agine that that incident was to disrupt his The farmer does not ignore his own at low cost. life completely, in both negative and positive contradictions: like many farming families, "Like everyone in my generation, and ways. The negatives include the intense head- the François family votes for the right and has without even realising it, I became hooked aches that, 14 years after being poisoned, still for a long time cast, at best, an ironic view of on ‘phytos’. Sales of these chemicals, which leave him bedridden for several days a month. the proponents of organic farming. Although had already doubled every 10 years between It is possible to live with, and get used to, the he is fi ghting the "phyto" industry, the crop 1945 and 1985, exploded in the 1990s", he physical ailments caused by chronic illnesses; grower continues to use pesticides on his writes in his revealing book, published at the the mental after-eff ects are more diffi cult to farm. end of 2017. control. "Dad! You are fi ghting Monsanto but The young farmer was happy to take Alongside his battle to get back to good you are still using chemicals…", his two part in the training days sponsored by the health and continue to work, Paul François daughters cried one day. His meetings with producers of "phytosanitary products" – a had to fi ght the medical world, the insurance activists and, above all, alternative farmers, term dreamt up by the industry to describe companies and, of course, Monsanto, to have which have shown him that organic farming pesticides – and had no problem accepting his illness recognised. His initial medical can be fi nancially viable, have convinced him their gifts: from the smallest (branded pens) tests, notably an MRI, did not show up any to convert some of his farm to organic crops. to the more signifi cant, such as his invitation abnormalities. The doctors put his chronic "I am no longer an agri-manager; I am to the Lido show in Paris along with 300 col- sickness down to overwork and stress. It was once again a peasant (…) a word of which I leagues. At that time he liked being called an not until January 2005 that an EEG revealed have never been more proud", he concludes, "agri-manager" (the linguistic inventiveness "neurological anomalies". fi nally at peace with himself. of the industry knows no bounds…), which he "So I’m not mad", he writes, relieved af- obviously thought was more fl attering than ter a doctor had even insinuated that he had — Denis Grégoire "farmer" or, of course, "peasant". been sniffi ng Lasso. From then on he became Although he tried out various tech- obsessed with a single cause: shining a light niques to reduce his dependency on expen- on the scientifi c proof of the link between sive "phytos", his reasons for doing so were Lasso and health problems. purely fi nancial, with little heed for health He got to know two toxicologists, An- A Peasant Against or the environment. Until that sunny day in dré Picot and Henri Pézerat, who helped him Monsanto April 2004. to untangle the issue: Lasso contains 43% Paul François (with On that early spring day, the sun was alachlor, which is a weed killer, but also con- Anne-Laure Barret), already beating down in the south-west. tains a solvent, monochlorobenzene. The sci- Éditions Fayard, 2017, After having sprayed a corn fi eld with Lasso, entists suggested that these health problems 277 p. 49 spring-summer 2018/HesaMag #17 Books 2/2

Trade unions and health and safety in the workplace, a complicated history

While the future is uncertain for the Comités Théry, who currently heads the Asso- occupational health and safety as a commod- d’hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de ciation régionale pour l’amélioration des ity. "The unions didn’t so much try to eradi- travail – CHSCT (Committees for Hygiene, conditions de travail de Picardie (Picardie cate danger and health risks, but rather used Safety and Working Conditions) in France, Regional Association for the Improvement them as opportunities for moneymaking." this book reminds us of the fundamental role of Working Conditions), calls for a trade un- The post-May ‘68 period left its traces. The they play in risk prevention in the workplace, ionism based in the fi eld, in close connection slogan "Don’t waste your life earning a liv- but also of their limits. with employees. "In order to move away from ing" is well remembered. But when workers Titled Syndicalisme et santé au travail a top-down, generalised discussion, trade themselves opened the discussion on work (Trade Unionism and occupational health union actions must be based in real-life work organisation and its impact on their health, and safety), it is a collection of contributions situations. For this to work, it must focus on the counter-strike carried out by employers from trade unionists and French social sci- the microscopic details, and resist the strong in the late ‘70s, along with the introduction ence researchers. temptation to reduce them to anecdotes. of new management methods in the follow- Annie Thébaud-Mony, an occupational Thus, any intended changes must be decided ing two decades, considerably weakened the sociologist, presents two examples of CHSCT somewhere between the infi nitely small and trade unions. actions in companies aff ected by cases of oc- the question of the common good, these two His fellow sociologists at Aix-Marseille cupational cancer. In a factory in Auvergne points of view being intrinsically linked. By university, Paul Bouff artigue and Christophe which produces vitamins for animals for the considering and understanding these micro- Massot believe that when it comes to psychoso- company Adisseo, one of the market leaders scopic details, the trade unions can mobilise cial risks, a CHSCT can only be eff ective if two in animal supplements, the use of a toxic mol- employees and build a viewpoint that takes conditions are met: employee representatives ecule caused approximately thirty cases of into account the complexity of situations," must have a certain power over the employer kidney cancer amongst its employees. As a re- she writes. and the question of actual work must be dis- sult of the persistence of the representatives The trade union confederation CGT cussed in this capacity. They recommend that of its CHSCT, the company was found guilty also calls for the trade unions to turn their the elected offi cials should seek to work closely of gross negligence. approach to work on its head. Jean-François with the employees they represent rather than The second case of industrial action in- Naton, a confederal counsellor for health and remain isolated in their offi ces. volves the exposure of France Telecom (now safety for the CGT, invites the trade unions Should they seek inspiration from the Orange) workers to surge protectors contain- movement to "dare to claim work as a founda- "Italian workers’ model" of the seventies? ing radioactive parts. A particularly dynam- tion for emancipation and end the persistent This is what Laurent Vogel, a researcher at ic CHSCT for the publicly owned telephone theory of the end of work, which for too long the European Trade Union Institute, sug- operator initiated an inquest which, with the has been a major topic of discussion." gests. In his opinion, this would require inter- help of a team of committed scientists, would In a chapter on the stranglehold that ex- nal transformations within the trade union allow them to prove the lignards’ – line work- pertise exercises on public policy in terms of movement. He suggests "questioning the del- ers’ – high exposure to radioactivity. health and safety, the sociologist Emmanuel egation of health and safety representation in She writes, "While the public health and Henry and the epidemiologist Émilie Counil the workplace to specialists". safety offi cials continued trying to sow doubt, question the "epidemiological paradigm". They the expertise of the CHSCT along with indus- denounce the importance placed on epidemi- — Denis Grégoire trial and community actions brought to light ology in the fi eld of research and its devastat- dangerous situations which should have been ing eff ects on workers. "Epidemiology requires subject to rigorous preventative strategies for counting the number of illnesses and deaths many years." over the long term, making it impossible to Laurence Théry, former confederal make preventative decisions. This reliance on secretary for the trade union confederation epidemiology is sometimes seen as human ex- CFDT, presents the action research backed perimentation on a large scale," they say. Syndicalisme et by her organisation since 2005. In her opin- The sociologist Danièle Linhart, who santé au travail ion, these initiatives led to a revision of trade specialises in management methods, re- Lucie Goussard and union practices. They gave employees the minds us that for a long time, the trade un- Guillaume Tiffon (Eds.), chance to "speak out" and gave a view into ions resisted risk prevention as a strategy. Éditions du Croquant, "the black box of actual work". During the Trente Glorieuse, they often used October 2017

These books are available in the ETUI’s Documentation Centre. www.labourline.org