LA strip club becomes only in the US to unionize

Dancers at a Los Angeles-based adult club Tuesday became the only strippers to have union recognition in the U.S., winning a yearlong battle against their management.

In a news release Tuesday, the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) said attorneys representing the owners of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar agreed to recognize the union and begin bargaining within 30 days on a first contract.

An official union vote among 19 eligible dancers will be counted Thursday.

The National Labor Relations Board had previously ruled the bar violated labor laws by firing three strippers and locking out 15 others who raised concerns about their health and safety at the bar, according to the Los Angeles Times.

As part of its settlement with the union, the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar will bring back dancers who were dismissed last year. 

“If you have been following our journey, then you know this has been a long, exhausting fight, which is why this victory is so sweet,”  Reagan, one of the Star Garden dancers, said in a statement.

“We put everything we have into this campaign, and we were fortunate to have the support and solidarity from the club’s patrons, our allies and friends, the labor movement and our union, Actors’ Equity Association.”

Star Garden Topless Dive Bar’s dancers will be the first to be represented by AEA, a national labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in live entertainment.

It’s been nearly a year since the dancers at the Los Angeles-based strip club announced their union push, claiming the club’s security guards failed to protect dancers from threatening and abusive behavior from customers.

They also held protests outside the strip club, calling attention to unsafe working conditions. 

The Star Garden dancers’ successful union drive is the first since the dancers at Lusty Lady in San Francisco formed a own labor union in 1996, which lasted until the club’s closure in 2013.