Ex-workers urge boycott of two LI nail salons

The Korean owner of two upscale Long Island nail salons crashed a demonstration outside one of his businesses Thursday by former employees who demanded that patrons boycott the salon because, they said, it discriminates against Chinese workers.

The result was a chaotic scene in which simultaneous news conferences were held in the street and parking lot by the Babi nail salon in Carle Place.

In Bae Kim, the owner of the Carle Place Babi nail salon, and another by the same name in Glen Head, said he had shown up after his manager had called him about the noon demonstration.

He denied his businesses discriminated against six former Chinese workers. Kim also denied he had fired any workers because last January six Chinese workers filed a civil suit claiming discrimination against them because they said they were paid as little as $2.27 an hour, and managers slighted their Chinese heritage and forbid them to speak Chinese in the salons or read Chinese newspapers.

The demonstrators, shouting "Boycott Babi" and carrying signs that read "Rehire the Workers Illegally Fired" and "Pay Back Workers Their Owed Wages" touted a recent charge by the National Labor Relations Board that said the two salons, Kim, and his wife and salons' co-owner, Kui Soon Cho, had retaliated against workers who filed the civil rights lawsuit by lowering their wages and firing several of them.

Referring to the NLRB decision issued last week, De Ping Song, one of the six workers who filed the suit, said in a statement, "We are very happy about the good news and call on nail salon workers to learn from us and stand up for our rights."

Josephine Lee, with the Justice Will be Served campaign, a group of unions and other groups that say they are attempting to better conditions for immigrants in low-wage businesses, said the group had organized the demonstration.

There are a number of Babi nail salons on Long Island, but Kim said the only two he is currently involved with are the ones in Carle Place and Glen Head.

While the demonstrations ensued, the nail salons kept doing business and several patrons declined to comment.