‘Strippers are standing up’: Los Angeles dancers move to unionize with actors group

Star Garden workers would be the first strippers to join Actors’ Equity Association, a national theater actors union

Dancers at a Los Angeles strip club have filed to unionize with Actors’ Equity Association, a move that would make them the first group of strippers to join the national union that represents theater actors.

Performers at Star Garden in North Hollywood submitted a petition on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a union election. The initiative comes after months of staging protests outside the venue raising concerns about workplace safety and labor rights. Actors’ Equity – which represents Broadway actors, stage managers, Disney World performers and other regional theater actors – said it was supporting the effort and that if it is successful, the Star Garden workers would become the only strippers in the US represented by a union.