May 15 (Reuters) – Montreal strippers are planning a strike for the weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix, hoping that withdrawing their labour on the busiest night of the year for the city’s strip clubs will help them move towards their goal of full employment rights.
The Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC) have called the strike for May 23, the eve of the fifth race in the Formula One calendar, as part of a campaign to achieve recognition as employees with associated rights.
Their principal demand is the abolition of the “bar fee” which strippers must pay to perform in clubs, but they are also demanding safe and sanitary working conditions as well as an end to discrimination in hiring and scheduling.
“As strippers, we are considered independent contractors, this means that on paper we are treated the same as, say, an independent plumber that you would hire for your home repairs,” SWAC said in a statement.
“The independent contractor plumber is responsible to no one but themself, while the independent contractor stripper is responsible to club management, at the expense of their job.”
SWAC said the Canadian Grand Prix weekend had been deliberately selected for the strike.
“The clubs are at their busiest, making it the most lucrative period of the year for our boss,” the statement continued.
“This is our chance to threaten that income and affect them when it hurts the most. During this time, despite management making more money, dancers have to put up with … generally worse working conditions.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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