Organising The Sex Industry with Strass
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The document discusses the organization of sex workers, highlighting issues such as criminalization, stigmatisation, and the need for solidarity among various types of informal labor. It outlines strategies for organizing and activism, including providing legal support, safe spaces, and advocating for the decriminalization of sex work. The text also details the successes of the organization and calls for broader support to protect the rights of marginalized and undocumented workers.
Organising The Sex Industry with Strass
- 2. Some History 1973 Coyote in California 1975 France occupation of churches 1982 London Holy church occupation
- 3. Mapping the sex industry - Porn industry - Webcam, online chat or by phone - Striptease & pole and lap dancing clubs - Outdoor sex work (stations, forests, streets, parkings) - Indoor sex work (brothels, flats, saunas, hostess bars, karaoke bars, massage parlours, peep shows) - Escorting (in calls & out calls)
- 4. What obstacles to unionisation? - Criminalisation - Stigmatisation - No tradition of trade unionism - No shared workplace - Many languages spoken - Differences of identities and ways to work
- 5. How do we organise? - Legal advice & paralegal activities - Information sharing in different languages - Distribution of condoms and prevention material - Safe spaces (weekly meetings, online forums, collective meals & parties) - Annual conference - Campaigning & activism - Trainings on advocacy & trade union organising
- 6. What do we do differently? - Fighting police abuse & violence - Support for undocumented migrants - Actions against forced labour & human trafficking - Fight against exploitation with no Labour laws & conflation between trafficking and sex work - Feminism and LGBT rights - HIV & Health - Individual support & intimate issues (care work)
- 7. Understanding of exploitation - within the workplace (fees, fines, workplace rules, health & safety conditions) - outside the workplace landlords, advertising, police corruption or legal state practices of fining, migration
- 8. Informal work - Often freelance work - De-contractualised labour - Criminalised workplace - Undocumented workers The traditional weapon of strike is often not relevant
- 9. Observations Connection between different types of sex work and need for solidarity Link the criminalisation of some forms of informal labour (street art, unlicensed street sales, sex work, begging, drug dealing) with the broader exploitation of labour within the industrial carceral complex Social reproduction of labour & the specific oppression of female migrant workers Effects of globalisation and liberalism
- 10. STRASS successes - decreased police abuse in some places - more solidarity and less racism within sex workers’ communities - sex workers are better informed about their rights - regularisation of some undocumented migrants - won cases in court - from 200 to 500 members
- 11. What you can do to help ! - pass motions for decriminalisation and sex workers’ labour rights - invite sex workers to public talks - organise informal workers by opening branches in your trade union - fund and support events to organise informal workers - fight austerity and for the rights of women, migrants and minorities - GLI manifesto needs to include the demand for the decriminalisation of informal labour, including sex work