When women have asked for more security, asked for clean bathrooms, it feels like it’s take it or leave it."ĭeja Vu has very little competition in the city and it’s been the dominant player since that morality crackdown in the '80s. "As an independent contractor, you can set up your conditions for employment. "It doesn’t seem like there’s much negotiation going on," Saldaña said. She says there is some scheduling but dancers can negotiate their schedules themselves. It seems like the company takes it pretty close to infringing on workers' rights as independent contractors and business owners."Īccording to Amber, Deja Vu sets schedules for a lot of dancers and tells them when they can take breaks, suggesting the company treats dancers as employees and not independent contractors.įinck says this isn't the case, and that Deja Vu only asks that dancers inform them when they're going on break, for safety reasons. "That workforce has always been independent contractors," Senator Rebecca Saldaña told The Stranger, "and they want to remain that way. His co-founder was Roger Forbes, the Showbox guy. The majority of the clubs operating at that time were subsidiaries of Deja Vu, the club founded and run on Lake City Boulevard in 1985 by a man named Harry Mohney (for comedy's sake, let's all assume his last name is pronounced the way I hope it's pronounced). In 2003, Seattle-a city of 550,000 people-has just three strip clubs where women perform. The result of the sustained moratorium has been a gradual stifling of the adult-entertainment industry as clubs across the city have shut their doors. That created a virtual monopoly in the strip club business, something that's shaped how the industry operates in Seattle to this day.įrom an old Stranger report (we are the place for strip club news): Back in the day, there was a 15-year ban on creating new strip clubs that started in 1988. In case you're unfamiliar, our liberal bastion of a city is highly puritanical about sex and nudity. Seattle has a, uh, complicated past when it comes to strip clubs. These safety problems are indicative of a strained and restricted industry in Washington state. The bill will also require panic buttons in various club rooms such as the private VIP rooms. Half of that committee will be made up of dancers, with the intention that all the rules made going forward will be made in the best interest of dancers. The bill will establish an adult entertainer advisory committee with the Department of Labor and Standards. Mandatory trainings, like what food service workers go through to get food worker cards, will equip them with knowledge. What Amber and other dancers are trying to create with this bill are resources for dancers. Nobody tells you 'management can’t do that.'" Well, there’s more now because of the internet." But, that's information dancers have to seek out on their own. “When you start dancing, nobody trains you,” Amber said, “there’s no information. House Bill 1756 and Senate Bill 5724 will implement mandatory trainings for dancers meant to educate them about their rights as workers and how they should be treated. Together, with the help of Working Washington, a grassroots bill they created to improve the working conditions of dancers has made its way successfully through the House and, as of last week, is on its way to the Senate. This year, she and a group of other dancers took their complaints to Olympia. “So, that kind of flipped something in my head.”Īmber has been a stripper for 13 years. “I thought ‘Wow you’re lying to my face, you think I’m stupid, and you don’t really care about us at all,’” Amber told The Stranger. When she brought it up to club management, they assured her there were cameras back there, that she was safe. If he had his hands around her neck, strangling her, no one would know. If something were to happen-she shuddered to think about a man sexually assaulting her or trying to kill her. They’re dark, there’s loud music playing, and they’re walled off for privacy. Let's get some panic buttons in here, ladies! Igor Sinkov/Getty ImagesĪmber didn’t feel safe in the VIP rooms.
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