Just like an orgy, it only works if there are lots of us
In June 2018, we began a unionisation drive across the UK sex industry that sought to recruit sex workers regardless of their immigration status. Current laws and policies criminalise many aspects of sex work, so we started with strippers and dancers in clubs and pubs. By working together, standing up for each other, and making our voices heard we have begun to transform the sex industry from the bottom up.
In just over a year, the trade union group United Sex Workers has grown to well over 100 paid up members. We have already won £15,000 in compensation for sexual harassment for a member in Cardiff, and £14,000 in holiday pay for two dancers in London. Fighting back and winning compensation at work for sex workers in the UK was unimaginable two years ago. This is a very basic union fight about being considered workers, about union recognition, and about fighting club by club.
As with any group of marginalised workers, we need to build up the confidence of workers in the sex industry so that they can speak, vote, and take industrial strike action.
We have yet to establish the ‘worker’ status’ of sex workers. So far, bosses have preferred to pay huge sums in out-of-court settlements to avoid recognising dancers' labour rights. To change that in 2020, we are bringing a number of important cases around trade union activity and employment status to court this year. Hopefully they will be enough to shift the status quo. This fight for worker status, as opposed to forced self-employment, is of course not unique to sex work. Every Uber driver, Deliveroo courier, Taskrabbiter, and gig economy worker in the UK should recognise it.
