The International Herald Tribune has a good piece reviving interest in what seems to be a perenially provocative topic: organizing sex workers. According to the article:
"It's not easy," said Lopes, who also said membership had grown to 300 in the London area. "The main obstacle is that there's no tradition of unionization, so many sex workers don't know what the union is, and there's the whole issue of keeping their job secret."
With human trafficking becoming a growing concern both here in the United States and abroad, it's going to be interesting to see if trade union organizing emerges as a solution.
In California, the Exotic Dancers Alliance has won some real gains, especially for workers at the Lusty Lady in San Francisco, whose organizing drive was the subject of the short film Live Nude Girls Unite!. I saw the film at the DC Labor Film Festival a couple of years ago, and I believe that Makor is showing it here in New York in June.
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