“The boss would fix the books, lie about how much he owed you. They gain your confidence then turn on you,” he said of his experience with the employer of the once busy salon. The stories the undocumented workers recount about their journeys to France – and their arrival at “le 57” – are as diverse as they are frightening.Īlphonse, a 28-year-old native of Burkina Faso who used to work the cash register, applied for asylum a few years ago, but his request has been rejected by the French authorities. “The neighbourhood and the salons are controlled by Nigerian networks, police struggle to build a case against them.” “The hairdressers no longer feel safe in the neighbourhood,” said the CGT’s Poulain, who has been threatened with decapitation for helping the group. The workers of "le 57" now suffer constant intimidation and have been threatened with physical harm, even death. Many in the bustling neighbourhood profit from and are keen to preserve the system. She said bosses paid them just a fraction of what was negotiated at the time they were hired, if they paid them at all. "We worked from 9am to 11pm, six days a week, sometimes on holidays," said Fatou, a 42-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast who arrived in France illegally last year. But the situation at the occupied shop is virtually unprecedented, and the workers have not received sympathetic treatment from others in the neighbourhood.Īround 1,500 people are believed to work in the myriad hair and nail salons in the area without official job contracts, because the vast majority of them also have no legal status in France. African immigrants, with or without legal residence status, flock to the area for specialised hair and beauty services. Death threatsĬhâteau d'Eau is littered with salons like “le 57”. The workers have filed their own suit against the former bosses, accusing them of bankruptcy fraud and enslavement, among other alleged charges. Either they side with these people, or with the mafias who exploited them.” “It’s a symbolic victory,” said Maryline Poulain, a union organiser with CGT, which has decided to continue helping the workers with the moral and legal support they need. On Thursday a Paris judge denied the eviction request, offering a glimmer of hope to the 18 immigrants who fear they will be deported at a moment’s notice. When the hairdressers occupied the premises, employers filed a legal request to have them forcibly evicted. Just one week later the owners closed New York Fashion, as the salon was then named. On June 7 they jumped for joy at the news they had won work contracts after a three-week strike the CGT union helped them organise, but their elation was short lived. However, its employees are bent on staying for as long as it takes. It’s been close to 100 days since the last customer walked through the doors of “le 57”, as the French media has taken to calling the shop. The cushy salon chairs have lost their sheen, a hairdressing basin now serves as an ashtray and scattered and empty hair dye tubes give off a toxic stench. The hair and nail salon at 57 boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris’s north-eastern Château d'Eau neighbourhood is not what it used to be.
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