It was dawn on a cold New York morning in late October, Fast forward into , and not only is the dispute unresolved, it has sparked a broader conversation about the general rights of strippers in their chosen line of employment. Not to mention, there has been a complete absence of wages being paid to strippers by clubs during that time.
Complaints levelled at club owners are varied and numerous. A prevalent bone of contention is that strippers are classified by clubs as independent contractors, thus enabling club owners to shirk many basic duties an ordinary employer would be bound by. Yet the same employers readily exercise their right, as bosses, to fire girls on the spot for seemingly trivial misdemeanours.
We get no benefits, no healthcare. Many of the issues described by Gizelle have been prevalent in the industry for years, not only in New York but throughout America.
These au courant servers no longer just administer drinks, but dress as strippers do, dance, and compete for tips that originally belonged to dancers.
Racism is also a concern. In many of these cases, the aggrieved dancers tend to be black and the bartenders white or Latina. These subtle yet pertinent changes are further dismantling an already delicate ecosystem. Strippers not only feel light of pocket, but light of worth. But stripping is an occupation for a lot of women. In other cities we still have respect, but in New York, strippers are bottom of the barrel. Dark-skinned strippers are all the way at the bottom of the barrel.
