I'm hoping that this article will encourage sex workers to think about their place within the labour movement. This article is an amalgamation of ideas that were born out of coversations I've had with sex workers and labour organizer friends.
During the pandemic I became active in sex work labour organizing through a group called SWIM (sex work industrial movement). Our goal was to organize ALL sex workers across North America under one big industrial union. This was of course, a very big and ambitious goal. We focused on sex work unionism, under the umbrella of a freelancers union that also existed at the time, called S’ATTAQ. Many of us were also associated with the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). We envisioned our labour to be similar to that of a hair dresser, a tattoo artist, a bike courier, a long-haul truck driver, etc. When COVID restrictions lifted, many of us returned to work. I was burned out from the project and took a step back. I felt like I needed to read more theory and I got busy with life, alcoholism, and being sad a lot.
On General Strikes
I appreciate the sentiment behind the action, and I want to see some of these demands come to fruition. I have no animosity towards CATS and I appreciate what they do for the community. However, you cannot make a post on social media announcing a general strike, hoping that it will do the work that months or years worth of relationship-building should do. It is unfair to call dancers scabs for choosing to work over taking part in a haphazardly organized strike. We do not build a coalition of workers through guilt, shame, or petty in-fighting. A general strike requires broad participation across a workforce. This is more like a callout with no organising base behind it. This is why we need to be reading theory and learning our labour history. We can study other organizing campaigns and we can learn from them.
The first step to organizing your workplace is to talk to your coworkers, individually, one-on-one. You find out what is bothering them about their job, what they think could improve their working conditions, and you listen more than you speak. The first step to organizing looks like two people sharing their frustrations in the changing room after a shift. Being a good organizer looks like being a good coworker.
This general strike would have been more well received by other dancers if there was an attempt made to have a one-on-one with them. If other dancers felt heard and included in this action and not like it was thrust upon them. We cannot understand the grievances of our coworkers if we do not talk to them. By coworker, I do not mean your friends or the people who were already interested in the politics and chose to attend a meeting or join your activist organization. You do not have to like your coworkers, but you DO have to talk to them. If we neglect to do this fundamental first step in any organizing campaign, we are no longer organizing the working class, we are just organizing other leftists.
An organizing campaign should never begin with a strike. This is a big ask from people who do not know you and do not trust you. It has high risk and low reward. Once you have talked to your coworkers and you have built relationships among other dancers, you pick the most winnable demand and engage in smaller and less scary actions to build momentum and solidarity. When engaging in tiny actions you feel like co-conspirators and it is an exercise in trust. The big asks come later.
For example, there was a night where two customers were filming girls on stage. I told the bouncer and he gave them a warning. Of course, this did nothing. The customers continued filming girls. I told the bouncer again, and the bouncer said he was too afraid to kick them out because he was the only one on staff tonight. What the fuck are they paying you for if you can’t enforce club rules against two tiny men?! When it was my turn to do a stage, I refused. I told management that I signed up to be stripper, not a pornstar, and I’m not doing anything until they kick those customers out. Other dancers followed suit, including a dancer who really doesn’t like me. Finally, they kicked the customers out and did their job. It is a tiny win, but it is the foundation of building collective power.
Despite my criticisms, this is also an exciting time. I am seeing people share ideas and engage in these conversations on sex work and labour, two subjects I am very passionate about. Before I move on, I would like to share two articles that further encapsulate how I’ve been feeling on this general strike.
A Militant Minority will not Save the Labor Movement
On Decrim
Do I support decriminalization of sex work? Fuck yeah.
But… a strike is a labour tool. It works by withholding labour from the entity that has power over what you want changed. An employer at Café Cleopatra, a private company, does not directly have the power to make decisions over how the nation of Canada legislates the buying and purchasing of sex. If your goal is to fight for the decriminalization of sex work, your target is the Canadian government, not a handful of strip club employers in the city of Montreal. You are withholding labour from people who cannot give you what you are asking for. The logistics do not make sense.
This comes back to what I said about reading theory and labour history. The fight for decrim is outside the purview of labour organizing and therefore requires different strategies and tactics, like lobbying and constitutional challenges.
When I was involved with SWIM, our goal was to organize sex workers under the current legal framework. The idea was that while we support decrim and would like to see that happen, our focus was not in changing legislature. Other groups, like The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, were already working on that. We were concerned with building worker power *now*, within the current conditions we labour under. Laws may change, but worker power is forever.
On being Reclassified as an Employee
No.
I agree with many of the sentiments expressed by Pleasers on the Ground:
Objections to the May 23 Strike
Pourquoi des Stripteaseuses Refusant de Faire la Grève Pendant le Grand Prix
This section will be my perspective of my own labour. Other dancers may have differing perspectives and that’s okay, because we are not a monolith.
I feel like formal employment is antithetical to decrim. Fssw fight for decrim and not legalization for a reason; legalization would bring us under the control of the government. It means that fssw can have employers who dictate when and how we work, it means that the Canadian state can medicalize us through forced exams, the state can force us to get licensed. Licenses may come with fees that are prohibitive and expensive. We are now escorts on paper and can be barred entry into other countries, and it creates a barrier to entry for the most marginalized among us. If you are undocumented, homeless, a drug user, formerly incarcerated, you lose access to this form of labour that is now being regulated by the state. The state can now criminalize you if you are engaging in prostitution without a license. This creates a two-tiered system where some escorts can work legally, and some are working illegally. If you are a mother you can be put at risk of losing custody of children because of stigma, because now you have to openly declare that you are escorting or risk criminalization.
If the state formally recognizes you as a strip club employee, that’s on paper somewhere. The state can protect you and the state can expose you. If you are formally classified as an employee of a strip club, that creates a paper trail. Your T4 shows your employer. Your employer is a strip club. That record exists in the tax system, in employment records, potentially in any background check that pulls employment history. If you ever go through a custody dispute, opposing counsel can subpoena employment records. A judge with bias can use that information against you even if stripping is legal work. If you’re trying to transition out of the industry, a formal employment record at a strip club on your work history creates a disclosure problem, trapping you in the industry due to stigma. A labour dispute at the TAT / with the CNESSET becomes public record. A landlord can look you up on SOQUIJ.
When the state formally recognizes a category of worker, it doesn’t just protect them. It regulates them. And regulation opens the door for licensing to be introduced later. And licensing means fees that create barriers to entry, hitting the most financially precarious workers hardest. A list somewhere of people who are licensed to strip. That list exists in a government database. It is potentially accessible. You are now on it permanently. You are now dependent on the state’s continued approval to work. If you are undocumented, if you have a criminal record, if you are in a precarious situation of any kind, you may not qualify for the license at all. The most marginalized workers get cut out of the legal framework entirely and are now additionally criminalized for working without a license.
I understand why there is an allure to being classified as a formal employee. I’ve been arbitrarily fired and removed from scheduling with no financial recourse. At that time, I wish I could have filed a claim for EI. I’ve come into work before a sprained ankle was fully healed because I did not have access to workers comp. Clients can be gross and the ventilation is bad and I get sick all the time. I’ve been in the trenches and sometimes our work is ugly.
I know that employee status would mean access to greater legal protections under the government. I am open to understanding how this would work in practice, but I chose stripping for a reason. I struggle with maintaining employment when I do not have flexibility over my schedule and I fear that formal employment would give clubs greater control over how I labour. I also chose stripping because it affords me a greater degree of anonymity than other types of sex work. There are no easy answers here.
Where do we go from Here?
The old world is dying. Workers are becoming increasingly more atomized and pushed into gig work for survival. Most people I know juggle two or three jobs to get by, and many of us have a tenuous relationship with our employer(s). Bosses increasingly contract out departments instead of keeping them in house, so they do not have to take on the responsibilities of employing people. We are going to have to figure out a new way to protect workers and to organize our workplaces, and it isn’t going to look the same as it did in the past. This conversation extends beyond strippers.
Many of the issues we have as dancers are not unique to us. They can be extrapolated to other freelance and gig economy workers. We have some (limited) rights and access to benefits. We can pay into special EI benefits and workers comp, so that we can take sick leave, maternity, etc., and maybe a know your rights campaign could go along way with informing dancers (and all freelance workers) on what options are available to them.
What if we weren’t classified as independent contractors or formal employees, but a secret third thing?
Canada recognizes a legal category called “dependent contractor” in some areas of labour and employment law. A dependent contractor is generally a worker who is formally self-employed but economically dependent on a single client or company to a significant degree. The category exists between a traditional employee and a fully independent contractor. Courts and labour tribunals examine factors such as economic dependence, exclusivity, degree of control, and integration into the business. Dependent contractors are not automatically entitled to all employee protections. However, Canadian courts have sometimes held that they are entitled to reasonable notice of termination, similar to employees, because of the dependent nature of the relationship. In some jurisdictions and labour relations contexts, dependent contractors may also have collective bargaining rights.
Foodora was a food delivery app. In 2020, Foodora workers went to the Ontario Labour board with CUPW and won the right to be reclassified as dependent contractors with the right to unionize. As a result, Foodora pulled out of Canada. I find this example interesting because unlike Foodora, strip clubs cannot choose to pull out of Canada and take their business elsewhere. This is an example of how we can learn and take inspiration from other campaigns.
Labour board rules Foodora couriers can form union
But also, fuck the state. The state defaults to defending capital. We don’t need to wait for laws to change before we build collective power, and this organized base could become a constituency that legislators must reckon with. When we organize across categories of precarious worker a few things happen. We are not a stigmatized niche; we are part of a larger movement. It is easy to dismiss the concerns of strippers, it is harder to dismiss several thousands of precarious workers in different sectors of the gig economy. We also build mutual aid infrastructure that is more resilient. We have more money for strike funds, emergency funds, or legal aid. Lastly, we find common causes around demands that serve everyone, without the focus being on the “scandalous” nature of our work.
If you would like to talk to me about this article, or if you would like resources on how to organize your workplace, you can contact me at dirtyytech@proton.me
An injury to one is an injury to all.