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For those who scoff at nthe idea that Brexit will bring on the wholescale destruction of worker's rights and their healkth and safety protection at work, this news regarding safety of hairdressers should bring home the realities.
A Europe-wide agreement on health and safety standards for the Hair Dressers industry has been blocked by the European Commission, under pressure from successive British governments.
Salon workers, who are mostly female and under 40 years old face risks rangi
ng from musculoskeletal disorders, to dermatitis, asthma and cancer.
Paddy Lillis, deputy general secretary of the Shopworkers’ union Usdaw said:
“It’s time we had a new deal for hairdressers. All too often the safety of shopworkers is overlooked in the mistaken belief they work in low-risk environments. This is a mistake the UK government made when they scaled back Health and Safety Executive inspections and slashed inspections by local authorities who enforce safety in shops, warehouses and offices.”
He told the Guardian Newspaper:
“It is time that the government and the European Commission took these risks to the health and safety of hairdressers seriously and gave them proper protection.”
In 2012, the union grouping that represents about one million hairdressers across the EU, Uni Europa, was involved in drawing up an agreement for EU member states to sign up to that set shared health and safety standards for hairdressers. But since Jean-Claude Juncker became president of the European Commission, the agreement has been blocked, under pressure led by Britain and some other parts of the EU, according to Oliver Roethig, regional secretary of Uni Europa.
“When we look at hairdressing, it’s the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Social legislation by the EU has been completely taken off the agenda by the Juncker commission. He said the EU must not be big on the smaller things. But we don’t think that hairdressers having to give up work is a small thing.”
Source: TUC Risks
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