A majority of the exotic dancers at a North Hollywood topless bar have voted to hold an election to unionize the strippers by joining the Actors’ Equity Association, a union that represents theatrical actors.
The strippers have been on strike against the Star Garden strip club since March and have now notified the National Labor Relations Board to inform federal officials that they intend to make an effort to unionize the 30 dancers who work at the bar, according to The Wrap.
The strippers have accused the bar’s owners with neglect, wage theft, and fostering a dangerous work environment by failing to protect them from unruly customers. Spurred by efforts from the group Stripper’s United, the dancers hope to unionize under Actor’s Equity, a an AFL-CIO-associated union that mostly represents stage actors, stage dancers, and other actors who generally perform in front of a live audience.
“Strippers United stands in solidarity with the Star Garden dancers as they partner with Equity to form the first stripper union in over 25 years,” the group said in a statement. “We are excited and proud to see this next step take place, and Strippers United will be in close connection with these fierce workers as their journey continues on.”
“We like what we do,” added Velveeta, one of the Star Garden strippers. “We would like our jobs even more if we had basic worker protections. We’re like so many other workers who have learned that it’s not a choice between suffering abuse or quitting. With a union, together, we can make needed improvements to our workplace.”
Solidarity With These Dancers Who Dressed as Their Club's OSHA Violations on the Picket Line https://t.co/dBj1tf249l
Star Garden dancers locked out from the Los Angeles strip club dressed as broken glass, bed bugs, a hole in the stage and more to protest working conditions. pic.twitter.com/0j9mERyOsL— OrchidToys.com🌷 (@orchidtoys) May 5, 2022
If the vote to join Actor’s Equity succeeds, Star Garden would become the nation’s only operating strip club to have unionized strippers. The first unionized strippers organized in 1996 when the Lusty Lady bar in San Francisco was unionized under the SEIU. The bar later went out of business.
Actor’s Equity welcomed the likely new members and said in a statement that the strippers have “much in common” with the Broadway actors and dancers they represent.
“Equity is well situated to advocate for these workers, and we are excited to welcome them into the labor movement at this extraordinary time,” Actors’ Equity Association president Kate Shindle said. “We applaud their efforts to seize their collective power and unionize, like so many others across the country who are fed up with toxic workplaces. When they approached us for support, we did what unions should do: we said yes.”
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