Organized Labor's Newest Heroes: Strippers

jackslash
Detroit strip clubs
I'm impressed. The Atlantic is now running articles about strippers.

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive…

We've had a number of discussions about whether strippers should be independent contractors or employees, and I think our conclusion was that the independent contractor model provides strippers with better money and customers with better service. The problem is with strip club owners who treat strippers like employees but classify them as independent contractors.

"[The judge] also ruled that the chain is required to grant all dancers in their clubs employee status within six months, ending the illegal practice of classifying dancers as independent contractors while also placing workplace demands on them that far exceed that legal status. By managing dancers like employees but putting them on the books as independent contractors, club owners get out of paying dancers the benefits they're legally entitled to, which could include worker's compensation, unemployment, and health insurance if they qualify. Owners and management alike tell dancers they're independent, but they still exercise control over dancers on the job, routinely using the kinds of restrictive rules on breaks and conduct you've come to expect of Wal-Mart, not the mythically "anything goes" world of sex work."

4 comments

Latest

mikeya02
12 years ago
Most clubs here have a few requirements for the girls. They can show up whenever they like but stay the whole shift and try to make money. And not be drunk, high, or rude. And the girls can take breaks and leave the club for lunch. Pretty easy.
canny
12 years ago
The strippers are going to lose that one. The clubs are going to change their rules to obey the ruling, pay the strippers minimum wage, and change how much they keep from every dance to make up for it.

A year from now the strippers who won the lawsuit will be trying to work at clubs where strippers are classified as independent contractors because the money will be better and so will the rules.
georgmicrodong
12 years ago
Like the article said, the problem isn't the independent contractor status of the dancers per se, but the fact that the clubs want to *classify* them as independent contractors, but *treat* them like employees.
jester214
12 years ago
The clubs allowed for a system that worked best for everyone. Dancers could make money and get it all in cash but still have to obey rules that kept the business running in a functional manner.

Now the lawyers have gotten their hooks in it. A few dancers will end up walking away with some money and in the end everyone will suffer.
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