大象传媒

Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in Los Angeles have  in the United States鈥攋oining a  seeking workplace protection though labor mobilization.

On May 18, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board announced that balloted employees at the topless bar had  of joining the .

It makes Star Garden the first unionized strip club since the now-defunct . That 1996 union campaign was later the subject of the . 

Lusty Lady shut its doors in Seattle in 2010, and three years later in San Francisco, making Star Garden if not the first then at present the only unionized strip club. But given the high-profile nature of the campaign鈥攁nd the impact of union drives among young staff elsewhere鈥� that there is a high chance that Star Garden won鈥檛 be the last strip joint to unionize.

Rusty Nails and Broken Glass

Star Garden is the latest in a string of organizing breakthroughs. In 2022, 2,510 petitions for union representation were filed with National Labor Relations Board elections鈥攁 . And petitions for union elections have continued to increase in 2023. 

Just as at Star Garden, many of the recent union victories have occurred in workplaces that previously seemed resistant to labor drives. Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe鈥檚, Apple retail stores, REI, Ben & Jerry鈥檚, Chipotle, and Barnes & Noble are among the big-name companies that have seen staff unionize for the first time since workers voted to unionize at Starbucks in Buffalo in December 2021. And evidence suggests that a successful union drive leads to more. Workers at  have now voted to unionize, and their efforts have inspired young workers throughout the low-wage service sector. 

But in other crucial ways their campaign chimes with that of the other new union drives than have occurred recently in the United States. Star Garden employs the same kind of young, self-assured workers that have contributed to the dynamism of union campaigns at Starbucks, Trader Joe鈥檚, and others. Most of the dancers are in their 20s and 30s, and they have proved assured spokespeople for the union during  in traditional and social media.

Youth-driven Campaigns

In contrast to past generations of union drives, it is young employees that are spearheading the new push for unions. And they are doing so independently, with . The Star Garden workers self-organized and repeatedly pressured management to act on their concerns before .

Moreover, the issues cited by Star Garden workers as evidence of a need for union protection鈥攕exual harassment by customers, unresponsive management, and an unsafe working environment鈥攁re in many respects just more extreme versions  that have driven many retail and food-service-sector workers to mobilize.

Anti-union Tactics

In common with workers at Starbucks, REI, and Trader Joe鈥檚, the Star Garden dancers concluded that having a union and collective bargaining was the surest way to remedy such problems. 

And like many of those other workforces, the Star Garden strippers faced a long battle against management to achieve that goal.

The organizing campaign  as a result of company鈥檚 efforts to fight worker organizing and then prevent a union vote. 

Workers voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in November 2022, but management opposition prevented the labor board from counting the ballots until last week. Among other tactics, the owners of Star Garden are  against workers for protesting an unsafe working environment, and claimed that the workers were independent contractors, not employees. Employers also 鈥攁n act that can void a union contract.

But the anti-union tactics failed. When the ballots were eventually counted, they showed that workers had voted unanimously for union recognition. In common with campaigns at Starbucks and elsewhere, the success at Star Garden suggests that traditional  may be . 

There is another common theme in the rash of union breakthroughs in recent years: They have generated headlines.

Star Garden may not have the big-name appeal to media outlets of, say, Starbucks or Amazon. But the nature of the business involved lends itself to widespread media and social coverage. In short, 鈥渟trippers鈥� unionize鈥�    .

The high profile of this and other drives is an important part of the story. Widespread social media and traditional news coverage can  among other young workforces. It conveys to employees that organizing is something they can do, not just something they read about.

Time for a New Corporate Strategy?

There is also a takeaway from union drives by Star Garden strippers and other workers for corporations: The public may be tiring of old-style anti-union tactics, and it may be in their interests to work with employees seeking to unionize.

As Lilith, one of the Star Garden dancers, : 鈥淎 union strip club is going to be a novelty in the United States. It will have customers from all over. 鈥� I think if both parties come to negotiate in good faith, we can create a really successful business together.鈥�

From my perspective, it does prompt the question of whether it is time for company bosses to embrace unions. With 鈥攁nd a much higher proportion of young workers鈥攃ompanies like Star Garden, Starbucks, and REI could potentially benefit from marketing themselves as 鈥済ood employers鈥� who respect their workers鈥� right to choose a union. 

Vermont-based Ben & Jerry鈥檚 is one such company seemingly taking that approach. In January, it became the  the Starbucks Workers United-initiated 鈥淔air Election Principles,鈥� which would guarantee workers a free and fair choice to unionize. The union recognition process at Ben & Jerry鈥檚 is . 

Star Garden may be the country鈥檚 only unionized topless bar. But it is part of a wider trend that is influencing attitudes toward mobilizing in young workforces across the country鈥攆rom servers to ice-cream scoopers and now strippers.

This article was originally published by . It has been republished here with permission.