Many businesses were hit hard by the Corona crisis, including hairdressers. Representatives wrote an open letter to the government.
As in the first lockdown, the local hairdressers had to close again on November 17th. Financially things are not looking good in the industry. Many have their backs to the wall and need help immediately. Most hairdressers cannot pay out the upcoming Christmas bonuses. Therefore representatives have now turned to the government with an open letter.
“We need help immediately, otherwise our industry will end with business closings and bankruptcies,” the letter said. The hairdressers are calling for tax cuts and free corona tests similar to those in the restaurant business.
“All in all, our lockdown situation has massive effects on the unemployment rate, with women being particularly hard hit. Honest, hard-working entrepreneurs are deprived of their business base and at the same time the proportion of illegal work in Austria is increasing massively,” said master hairdresser Gülten Karagöz, deputy chairwoman of the Social Democratic Business Association (SWV) Vienna-Simmering.
Currently 9,000 companies with more than 20,000 jobs are threatened. According to Karagöz, value added tax (VAT) for hairdressing services should be reduced from 20 to 10 percent and ancillary wage costs should also be reduced.
According to the government's plan, operations could reopen on December 7th.
