|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Yoshie Furuhashi
||
||
||
|| ***** LABOR ORGANIZING IN THE SKIN TRADE
|| Tales of a Peepshow Prole
||
|| By Miss Mary Ann
|| (...)
|| Although the Lusty Lady is currently the only unionized nude theater
|| in the country, our success sparked similar organizing campaigns at
|| clubs and theaters in Alaska, Philadelphia and another in San
|| Francisco. Dressing rooms across the nation are full of disgruntled
|| strippers who want to do more than gripe about their plight. They
|| want to kick some ass! Contact the EXOTIC DANCERS UNION at
|| 510-465-0122 x461 or fly5 at mindspring.com to learn how to pull off a
|| do-it-yourself union organizing campaign at your own neighborhood
|| girlie show!
||
|| <http://www.livenudegirlsunite.com/story.html> *****
|| --
|| Yoshie
||
In Holland prostitutes have been unionized since the end of the 80's although it's only become "official" last year. Like dope, the Dutch made it legal in all but name. Their union is called Rode Draad (Red Thread). Recently they've been complaining about too much red tape, as the cops used legalization to clamp down on money-laundering and working conditions got sidelined:
------------------------------------------------------- Holland's Red Light Biz Smothered in Red Tape http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/8/13/210112.shtml NewsMax.com Tuesday, August 14, 2001 (...) Now the ladies of the night and brothel operators are finding their days filled with the joys of filling out forms from the health department, from the police, from the tax department, the labor department.
"They just go on and on," one brothel operator told the Times. "This one says how the girls have to wash their frilly underthings in practically boiling water. And this one says they have to cut their nails very short. For hygiene purposes, of course. And here they have to have a pillow in the room. You don't want a pillow in your room. It's a murder weapon. The bureaucrats are busy making rules and they know nothing about the business." (...) "I have often doubted since we legalized the brothels, whether we did the right thing," Femke Halsema, a member of Parliament who advocated the measure confessed to the Times. "For me," she said, "it was a question of emancipation and liberation for the women. But for now it is working the other way."
One prostitute agreed, telling the Times: "I don't see anything good about the law. The whole thing is crazy."
"It's chaotic out there right now," said Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who runs the Prostitution Information Center in Amsterdam's red light district. She told the Times "It's not good for anybody. Most of the prostitutes don't have any idea where they are in all of this." (...) -------------------------------------------------------
Hakki