Montreal strippers threaten to strike
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Good for them. I hope the dancers can afford to boycott, though.
Good for them. The bar fee is stupid unless the bar is giving free drinks to its patrons or something. Bars need to decide if they want to get paid by the dancers or the patrons not both.
HOWEVER - F1 racing brings in international Whales with loads of CASH to spend on strippers. For the typical local PL, this would be a good time to avoid the Additional Dealer Profit strippers could charge.
“Good for them. The bar fee is stupid unless the bar is giving free drinks to its patrons or something. Bars need to decide if they want to get paid by the dancers or the patrons not both.”
I think that’s exactly what they want, to be paid by both. Pay us, for the privilege to patronize here (understandable) but also pay us for the privilege of working here (this is where it gets murky).
Additional details from The Athletic’s article on this story:
Montreal strippers call for strike during Canadian Grand Prix weekend May 15, 2026 10:15 am EDT
Strippers in Montreal have called for a strike during this month’s Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in protest over working rights and conditions. The Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC) is planning the strike for May 23, the day of the sprint race and qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The grand prix takes place the following day. The grand prix weekend was described by the SWAC as the “busiest” and “most lucrative period of the year” for clubs.
In a statement, SWAC laid out their goals, demanding the abolition of the bar fee (which strippers are required to pay to perform in clubs), worker status and “safe working conditions like in any other jobs”. It said that it had deliberately targeted the grand prix to make the biggest and most effective statement. Last year, a record 352,000 people attended the Canadian Grand Prix, which was won by Mercedes’ George Russell, over the course of the weekend. “We think the grand prix is the best time to strike,” it said. “The clubs are at their busiest, making it the most lucrative period of the year for our boss. 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 a list of new rules, increased bar fees, overbooking and generally worse working conditions.”
SWAC claimed that “bar fees are increased exorbitantly during F1 and new arbitrary rules are often heavily enforced with exploitative penalty fees attached”. “The reality is that we’re clearly trapped in an employer/employee power dynamic, and the bar fee model benefits only the bosses,” it added. “Indeed, they have every incentive to bring in as many dancers as possible each night to maximize their profits. As for our safety, our employers show very little concern and leave us to handle it on our own.”
The Canadian Grand Prix gets underway with the weekend’s only practice session on Friday May 22 at 1:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET; 5:30 p.m BST) before sprint qualifying four hours later. The sprint race is at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, with grand prix qualifying at 5 ”