workingclasshistory:

On this day, 29 August 1997, workers at the Lusty Lady Club in San Francisco voted to join the Exotic Dancers Union, part of a radical Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local. Following a campaign of organising and direct action, which included the women deciding to dance only with their legs closed in protest, they won significant improvements. Their achievements included guaranteed work shifts, pay increases, removal of one-way mirrors (which enabled clients to film them), abolition of racist scheduling, and protection from arbitrary discipline and firing. They later took over the club and ran it as a workers’ co-operative, with elected management. Three former workers tell their story in our podcast episode 20 about the union: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/03/13/e20-the-exotic-dancers-union/
Pictured: Lusty Lady workers supporting dockworkers, May Day 2008 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2069451769906629/?type=3