United Sex Workers (USW) is a member-led, grassroots trade union that represents workers in the sex industry. Currently, we are raising funds to cover legal proceedings in order to challenge the strip club bans being considered by a number of local councils. In Edinburgh, the ban has already happened. At the end of March 2022, the council voted to impose a ‘nil cap’ on licences for sexual entertainment venues (SEVs). This decision will effectively shut down all strip clubs in the city by April 2023 and forbid any new ones from opening.
In practice, this means that strippers (alongside bar and security staff) will lose their jobs, with no alternative venues available for them to find work. Stripping is already a precarious job, and due to the stigmatised nature of the work, it can be hard for dancers to find other forms of employment. Annie, who lives in Edinburgh and has been a stripper for 19 years, told us how this new ban will impact her life:
I am a single mother to a three-year-old. I have no family to help with childcare, and my daughter is only entitled to free childcare for six hours a day, four days a week. This prevents me from working in most jobs. If I cannot work as a stripper, I will be unable to pay my bills, and we will be pushed into poverty.
Help us fight the ban
We need to raise an initial £20,000 to help fund a judicial review against Edinburgh City Council. We will argue that these so-called ‘nil-caps’ are unlawful, as they discriminate against women—who make up the vast majority of strippers.
USW has already been in touch with a Scottish legal firm, and is preparing to challenge the nil-cap’s compatibility with the Equality Act 2010. In order to begin legal proceedings, USW needs to now raise the funds to cover fees. Should the crowdfunding campaign fail, strippers will be left completely dependent on club owners for representation. This will increase their dependency on their employers, leaving them with less bargaining power in the workplace. Given that strippers are already in precarious work, vulnerable in the labour market, and socially marginalised due to the stigma attached to their work, it is imperative that their voices are properly represented in this process. They are the people who will be most strongly impacted if the nil-cap strip club ban comes into effect next April.
If the judicial review is successful, councils all over Britain who are currently considering setting a nil-cap would have to admit that this is unlawful. A successful judicial review could mean an end to strip club bans and give strippers a chance to collectively organise without worrying about their workplaces being shut down.
Sex work is work
There is huge potential for this campaign to move forward sex workers’ rights, and to demonstrate that strippers—like sex workers—are workers, who deserve the right to work safety. The stakes are high, but through months of hard work, unionised strippers and the trade union organisers that support them have created this opportunity to actively influence the policy that affects their workplaces, income and lives. For that, they are asking for the public’s support.
Strip club bans violate workers’ rights at a time of severe economic crisis. They form part of a wider attempt by the state to oppress precarious workers and dictate what women and other minorities can do with their bodies. Please help us fight back by donating and spreading the word!
Share and donate to the USW crowdfunding campaign here.