$86 less per day: Barbers at Fort Lewis base struggle with pay cuts

Haircuts are a frequent part of military life. About 20 barbers work in three shops on the Fort Lewis base. Most are Korean women with military husbands.

Until recently, Esperanza Mamerto earned up to $15 per cut — that’s including tip. But new management lowered their commissions to $7 per cut, and removed the tip line on credit card payments.

Mamerto says that adds up to a loss of about $86 per day for her.

She says some of the barbers are now worried about their jobs; two of the barbers were fired, says Mamerto, whose been on the base for two years.

She believes her co-workers were fired unfairly because they pushed back.

"That is creating a very stressful environment in the job," she says.

Mamerto is part of a union of about 20 barbers in three shops across the base. Most of them are Korean women with military spouses who give 15 to 20 haircuts in a day.

Because their customers are soldiers who must keep their hair neat and trimmed, they have regulars who return every couple weeks.

Mamerto says that two of her co-workers were recently fired because they refused the changes. She's worried she might be the next to lose her job.

A spokesman for JBLM says they do not oversee the barbers. Their contract is with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), a military retailer that then leases space to Sammi Beauty Global, the new management.

That company’s lawyer declined to comment.

This is not the first time Sammi Beauty has been caught in labor disputes. In 2017, they had three cases brought against them in front of the National Labor Relations Board.