The first unionized strip club in the U.S.

Brut America

These exotic dancers in Los Angeles voted to unionize what is now the only unionized strip club in the U.S. Here's how they got here ...

Transcript

00:00Strippers, be divided!

00:02We'll never be divided!

00:04Wake up, get unplugged, don't go inside this club!

00:18We have been standing out here in the rain with a huge group of people.

00:25I am excited for the example that it's gonna set for strippers

00:28and I hope that it starts a wave.

00:31We're not asking for a lot, we're asking for the same rights

00:34and dignity and respect and safety as everybody else.

00:49Here's our tally, look at all those humans!

00:52Look at all the humans we've turned away!

00:54We love themes, strippers love a good theme.

00:58Welcome to the Roast of Star Gardens!

01:03My friends don't understand why I would go to Star Gardens.

01:06They like to give money to the homeless, I like to give money to the topless.

01:17The thing that I got fired for is because they weren't kicking all the customers out at the end of the night

01:22and so I brought up this concern to the manager on duty.

01:28The bosses weren't there that night.

01:30His response was to make jokes and tell me that I was going to be murdered.

01:36I showed up ready to work for my next shift and then the boss came out and told me

01:42in the parking lot that I was fired for going off on staff.

01:46After I was fired, another dancer was fired also for safety and privacy concerns.

01:54She was fired because she intervened when a customer was filming another customer on stage,

02:00topless, without her consent.

02:02We weren't allowed to go to the security if we needed help.

02:05Nothing happened to the customer who was filming a dancer without her consent, topless,

02:11but she was fired.

02:14Security! Why won't you help me?

02:38We want our privacy to be respected.

02:41That means we want customers to be kicked out at the end of the night so that they are not lingering.

02:46We want to be able to call security when we have an issue with customers on the floor.

02:51We also want copies of our contracts, which were never given to us.

02:55We want anti-racist language in the hiring practices.

03:01This strip club is extremely racist.

03:05They have not hired a single black dancer since they took over this club.

03:09In June of 2021.

03:11That is why you see white bodies and light-skinned bodies in our campaign.

03:16Because that is all that this club hired.

03:18And we want just cause firing, where you can't be fired for a discriminatory reason,

03:26and you can't be fired for no reason.

03:28It has to be just cause.

03:39This was like, okay, they're still not acknowledging the strike.

03:42Okay, well, we're going to hit you with 33 OSHA complaints.

03:45We were complaining about holes in the stage.

03:48Literal gaping holes in the stage.

03:51Nails sticking out of the stage.

03:53The pole was unsafe.

03:55There would be broken glass on the stage and in the lap dance area.

04:01Things were not properly cleaned.

04:03There were complaints about rodents and bugs and the bathroom was not up to spec.

04:09There was a lack of ventilation.

04:12There were a lot of issues.

04:33We are revolutionizing.

04:40We are changing this industry.

04:41It's happening right now.

04:43You can be a part of it or you can watch it happen, but it's still happening.

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