Shameless Reds: the Lusty Ladies of SF

The Lusty Lady theater in North Beach is unionizing. My good friend "Jane" (her stage name) is one of the organizers. I talked to her about the process of organizing an independent, diverse group of people. People have said that messengers can't be organized because we are too independent-minded, too diverse, too far on the fringe of mainstream work, straddling the line between employees and independent contractors, too broker, too wild, etc. Well, strippers face these same issues and the women at the Lusty have proven that all these obstacles can be overcome by committed organizers. Who cares, you say? Not my problem? Well, I would sure like to do this job working for union wages, with full benefits and job security. And it is possible. Let the strippers lead the way!

The history of the first to unionize the Lusty goes as follows ­ the dancers had a bad relationship with management. They were treated like children; they got gold stars on their paychecks when they were good had their wages reduced by half when they were naughty. If you were sick you had to find a replacement yourself, calling all the dancers on the list ­ even if you were in the hospital or in a major wreck ­ NO EXCEPTIONS. A dictatorial atmosphere based on rigid rules and the fear of reprisal was the management's style.

In April the dancers started complaining about the one-way windows, long a subject of grievance. The dancers were visible to the customers in viewing booth, but they could not see the customers. The problem, for many of the dancers, was that they were being videotaped against their will and without pay through the one-ways. They asked for searchers at the door, metal detectors, or just taking the one-ways out, but their suggestions were rejected. They then wrote the owner a letter saying that they demanded the one-ways be taken out within two weeks or further action would be taken. All the dancers signed it except for one. They then showed it to the Service Workers' Union Local 790, who had been working with the Exotic Dancers Union (an advocacy group like the SFBMA), to see if they could prevent retaliation from their boss in response to their demands. The union said they had no protection from being fired or put off the schedule unless they were members of the union. So they had another mass meeting to gauge the dancers' interest in joining the Service Workers' Union.

The core group of organizers, about nine dancers, did extensive research into the union and what joining it would actually mean for the dancers. They found out that union dues are only 1.3% of your wage, or about $4 a week for the average dancer. They found out about the difference between a union shop and an open shop. In a union shop, joining the union is mandatory, and in an open shop it is optional. In the union shop the management can't petition for removal of the union, which is a possibility with the open shop if the membership drops below fifty percent.

The organizers then educated the other dancers with the information. That means they did a lot of typing out flyers and calling their coworkers on the phone to explain every detail of the process of unionizing, educating to build and maintain support, and always making sure they had the desires of the majority of the dancers in the fore. All the dancers but five signed union cards, indicating that they wanted to join the union.

At this point the boss called a meeting of all the workers at which she was told about the dancers' plan to organize. She refused to recognize the union, but she did give in to their original demand to take out the one-ways. The dancers' were at a crossroads here. They were confused about the need to continue organizing because their original demand was met, but they were wary of her gesture, which she called "an experiment," and also excited that they were successful in their efforts. Their enthusiasms for organizing won out and they came up with more demands. At that point that dancers were unified around the clear-cut issue of the one ways and that success made them confident they could get other needs met.

The boss, seeing that her workers were indeed organized, hired the famed union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson to destroy their efforts. The union-busting campaign began in earnest at that point, with the folks at Littler dictating what the boss should tell the workers, writing anti-union flyers to post on the bulletin board at work.

The dancers took another poll and with a majority wanting to unionize, they filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for an official vote on the union. Tedious hearings at the NLBR followed, with the Littler lawyers earning their money by postponing the vote as long as possible with debates over such trivialities as the union stationary and other attempts at wearing down the workers. The Lusty then began a hiring blitz designed to bring in new and uninformed workers who were wary of getting involved in their heated debate at their new job. The dancers filed an unfair labor practice charge for this, hoping slow the union busting and getting their first taste of power against the bosses' tactics. This is one of the major benefits of being in a union; if you don't like what the boss is doing, you can file with the NLRB and use the union lawyers. The idea being that management will not want to deal with lawsuits because of the expense and the bad press.

I asked Jane how being strippers, i.e. outlaws, impeded organizing. She replied that it didn't at all. She said the customers are supportive. The community came out in support, including city supervisors, the Gray Panthers, COYOTE, the media, the Longshoremen and the IWW, among many others.

At press time the vote was coming up, with the majority of the dancers set to vote yes for the union. Next will come the contract negotiations, where management and labor argue over the specifics of wages, benefits and working conditions. Just sitting at the table with management is a lot more than most messengers ever expect.

Jane pointed out that the beauty of service jobs is that they can't be moved to the Third World. Service workers have a lot more control than manufacturing workers in this regard, and that makes service unions the wave of the future, overshadowing the weakened manufacturers' unions of the past.

I put this outline of a local struggle in the zine to show that it can be done, and to encourage messengers to organize. If you want more information, call the Service Employees International Union Local 790 at (415) 575.1740. Or visit their office at 1390 Market. Also, if you want to learn more about unions or labor law, drop in on the classes offered at the City College downtown campus at Fourth and Mission. LABR 70 American Labor Movement, 7-10 pm Tuesday, is an overview of the history and contemporary issues of the labor movement. LABR 72 Labor Law, 7-10 pm Wednesday, focuses on the legal framework for organizing. Even if you just hit one or two class periods, you are bound to learn something.

The real hurdle is overcoming the belief that demands for higher pay, benefits, and more freedom and safety in the workplace are unreasonable. We devote a lot of time and energy to our jobs and we serve to be compensated for it. Until the laughter or snide remarks at the mention of organized messengers stop, we will never improve our conditions. It really is up to us to take ourselves seriously and struggle for power over the industry.

­Limor