‘Absolutely devastating’: What you didn’t know about the Kiwi strippers taking on the industry

The workers say they want a way to protect their rights. Photo / 123RF

Alice* didn’t set out to become an activist when she first became a stripper nearly a decade ago.

With bills to pay, mouths to feed and her student allowance not stretching far enough she told the Herald’s In the Loop podcast she turned to the strip industry.

Earlier this month Alice’s career came to an abrupt halt when she, alongside many others at the Wellington Calendar Girls strip club, was dropped after attempting to collectively negotiate.

Speaking to the Herald’s In the Loop podcast, she said this was not just an experience at one club, it’s something that occurs across Aotearoa.

“It has caused a lot of anger within our community for years, but nothing has ever been able to be done, that’s the problem, we have no point of contact we can turn to.

“There have been strippers before us that have attempted this, but they have been fired.”

She told the podcast managers tended to dictate a lot of their working conditions, despite them being independent contractors.

Listen to the full interview below:

Calendar Girls claimed the contracts were written by a specialist lawyer and although there were fines in the contracts “not one” has been issued in Wellington this financial year.

“The 19 contractors, some of which who have already moved on or only do a day here and there and, with a limited amount of lockers, we need them for new contractors working weekly. All of which were told they could re-apply online.”

The dancer also disputed the claim they were told to re-apply.