Stripper Strike of NoHo
Erotic dancers at the Star Garden stripclub in North Hollywood are aiming to become the only unionized stripclub in the USA.
What started out as a walkout in mid-March over dismal and unsafe working conditions blossomed into a full-fledged worker’s movement when management retaliated by locking out its employees. The Star Garden workforce is seeking to unionize in affiliation with Strippers United.
A unionized stripclub is rare, though not unprecedented. The Lusty Lady in San Francisco unionized in 1996, but closed in 2003 in the city’s steady march towards gentrification. The drive to unionize workplaces that have traditionally lacked unions is part of a larger trend, impacting businesses large and small. At the larger, corporate end of the spectrum, high visibility union drives have succeeded, or are currently underway, at Apple, REI, Starbucks, Amazon, Chipotle, Trader Joe’s and more. At the smaller, local end of the spectrum we see examples like City Feed and Pavement Coffee in Boston.
One major obstacle to unionizing in the current gig economy is the legal status of “independent contractor” separates workers from their right to unionize.
Critically, though, the legal working status of the North Hollywood erotic dancers is determined at the state level by the California labor law known as AB5, which recognizes the dancers as employees rather than contractors. Club owners, however, are often unwilling or unaware of the distinction. Via KnockLA:
Velveeta, a stripper on the picket line, told Knock LA that strippers working in clubs are often misclassified as independent contractors. This is against California labor laws, including AB5, which recognizes strippers as gainfully employed by clubs.
In cases where this legal status has not been recognized, dancers have successfully appealed to the courts and the NLRB. Via BuzzFeed:
One major obstacle to organizing is that strippers are often hired as independent contractors — meaning that they are technically self-employed — which disqualifies them from unionizing their workplace. Some dancers have begun to dispute their employment status in a handful of court cases and charges filed to the NLRB, where judges have ruled that the clubs in question managed the dancers with the same level of control they would with employees.
In addition to legal obstacles, there are psychological and physical obstacles to unionizing.
In workplaces like stripclubs, dancers are exposed to verbal and physical abuse that can erode their will to fight for their rights. The stories of abuse at the Star Garden in North Hollywood could be retold at stripclubs across America. Via Buzzfeed:
A dancer named Sinder was onstage at the Star Garden when a man pulled their panties to the side, shoved some cash in their crotch, and slapped them on the vagina, Sinder said. Sinder walked off stage and was told to take some “time off” two days later, but never got scheduled for another shift. Another dancer, Cece, said she was walloped on the thigh by a man so hard that it brought tears to her eyes, then told not to come back for her next shift after a customer alerted management that she was hurt. After Reagan yelled at a bartender who had joked about her being stalked and murdered by a customer, a manager told her she couldn’t come back for “a while,” she said. Selena said that after she told a customer not to record another dancer onstage, she was reprimanded for being a “drama queen” and wasn’t allowed to enter the club when she arrived for her next shift.
A difficult environment in which to find the wherewithal to speak up about your rights. Instead of responding in meaningful ways to the dancers’ concerns, ownership – Stepan “Steve” and Yevgenya “Jenny” Kazaryan – retaliated. Via People’s World:
The strike began when dancers were locked out from the club shortly after bringing up safety issues at the workplace. When management fired two dancers over their concerns, their co-workers walked out.
The dancers delivered a petition to ownership with the following demands:
Immediately reinstate fired dancers.
Affirm that we will not be fired for standing up for ourselves in dangerous situations with customers, when we call on security to protect us, and when we bring issues to the attention of management.
Enforce a strict policy that no customers can film or photograph dances in the club.
Enforce a strict policy that no customers can remain in the club after closing unless they are actively getting a lap dance.
Stop overserving customers.
Issue us copies of our signed contracts and an employee handbook listing all of Start Garden’s work rules and policies, including policies towards customers.
Give security authorization to respond to our calls immediately without going to management first.
(Via KnockLA)
While most of these “demands” are merely common sense practices for a safe and respectful workplace, the deeper issue at stake is control. Who has it in the workplace: workers or bosses? The dancers at Star Garden seek an outcome in which the workers themselves can act as steward of a safe and rewarding workplace and have a substantive say in how business is conducted. At an even deeper level, the issue is one of respect. The dancers are human beings who work hard and deserve a controlling stake in their workaday life.
While much has been written about the creative and colorful protest connected to the Stripper Strike of NoHo, there is less reporting on where the union drive is at.
The traditional procedure is: (1) filing a successful petition with the NLRB to call for a union vote (need at least 30% calling for vote to trigger vote); (2) if the petition is successful, hold the vote, yes or no, to a union. If step (2) is successful, you have a union.
Where are we in this process? Step (1), step (2), or other? There is no statement on the Strippers United site at present or that HDN is aware of. Stay tuned as events unfold.
Say hi to Stripper Strike NoHo (Twitter and Instagram) and Strippers United.
Explore the Stripper Strike NoHo linktree.
