Just Cuts Founder and CEO Denis McFadden is pleading with Government to follow the UK and NZ precedent and close hairdressing salons to protect the health of stylists and clients until COVID-19 is under control.
The Government must also move to ensure a rent freeze on corporate leases and wage subsidies.
There are 2500 fully qualified stylists in the Just Cuts Australian network, predominantly in shopping centres, and 3500 globally. Just Cuts has 190 salons across all states and territories of Australia, 28 salons in NZ and 6 in the UK. The UK Government moved on 22 March to close salons with NZ following on 23 March. The Australian Government overnight excluded hairdressing from the list of non-essential services that needed to close and which included beauty salons.
Quotes attributable to Just Cuts Founder and CEO Denis McFadden
The health of Just Cuts’ Teams and Clients is and has always been at the core of everything we do. In fact, we have set the standard for salon hygiene practices throughout our 30 years of operation. But the reality is that the nature of hairdressing means that our stylists have to work in close proximity with their clients and are constantly touching them.
Hairdressing is not an essential service and the Government’s refusal to include hairdressing on its COVID-19 shut down list puts our stylists and clients in the firing line and their businesses more exposed than they need to be. At the moment, our franchise owners who are primarily Mums and Dads, are hamstrung. Without hairdressing being on the shut-down list, it is incredibly difficult for our franchise owners to take the heartbreaking but necessary steps to stand down workers or call for breathing space on leases.
Given the steps taken in the UK and NZ to close salons along with other non-essential businesses and given everything the medical experts are saying, we simply cannot justify the health or financial risk to our franchise owners, stylists and clients.
Australian National and State Governments, we are pleading with you. We understand that you’re trying to juggle protecting livelihoods and saving lives but this decision puts both at risk for our people and clients. Please act now.