Striptease artists battling for the bare necessities

CANBERRA - Sometimes life can be hard to bare.

The women who make a living from peeling off are battling to put regulation where it has never before been able to penetrate.

The three-year-old union Striptease Artists Australia has hit the nation's strip and laptop-dancing bosses with an ambitious claim for conditions and wages rising up to as high as A$5100 for a fully-naked performance.

The union represents striptease artists, erotic, lap, tabletop, podium and pole-dancers, people who perform peepshows, and bar and club staff wearing skimpy or see-through uniforms, or going topless, g-string or nude.

The union turned to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission after employers rejected earlier bids to accept standards rates of pay and conditions for strippers, who normally work as private contractors.

Under the log of claims considered by the commission this week before being adjourned until December, the standard rate for striptease would rise from about A$20-A$30 to A$110 for a three-minute grind in skimpy clothing to A$660 for a 15-minute, fully-naked, bump and grind.

Topless waitresses would earn a fulltime rate of A$510 an hour, live 20-minute sex acts A$2060, tabletop and podium dancers between A$310 and A$5100 - depending on the length and nature of the performance - and lap dancers up to A$2100 for a fully naked 15-minutes. Casual rates in the claim run up to double these, plus 60 per cent penalty rates for public holidays.

Striptease Artists Australia is also seeking conditions including minimum sizes for stages fitted with non-slip surfaces, and a ban on the use of oils on stage.