Hollywood, Calif. (KNX) - Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood won their 15-month battle to become the nation's first unionized strippers in a decade.
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The victory comes after the bar owners withdrew their challenge to an election in which the dancers voted to join the Actors Equity Association, a union for performers.
Lilith, one of the dancers at the Star Garden, said that being in a union will give the dancers more power to determine their workplace experience, impacting things like the enforcement of safety rules.
"Before we were unionized, we dealt with a lot of things such as unwanted touching and unwanted filming," Lilith said. "Just different forms of assault, groping."
Thanks to the union, "We're able to get that language in a contract to make sure that those kinds of rules are enforced," she tells KNX News.
Lilith said that she also expects being in a union will lead to higher wages and better benefits for the dancers. "Part of our contract negotiations is going to be changing the percentage of lap dance money we take home at the end of the night."
She also said union members would be paid minimum wage.
And to those strippers who are unhappy with the idea of a union, she says, "We're just trying to make the most of the laws that we have, and for us, that was unionizing and putting some of the power that's in the boss's hands into our hands."
Lilith hopes an agreement can be reached that will make Star Garden even more successful and "show everyone that a unionized strip club can be an incredible development for this industry."
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