Strippers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood, California, have filed with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to join the Actors Equity Association, a union of performers and other show business professionals.
"We like what we do. We would like our jobs even more if we had basic worker protections," said one of the strippers who works under the stage name Velveeta, in statement released by the union.
Among the issues that the strippers say they want addressed are the club's security guards repeatedly failing to protect dancers from threatening and abusive behavior from patrons.
"We're like so many other workers who have learned that it's not a choice between suffering abuse or quitting," she said. "With a union, together, we can make needed improvements to our workplace."
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