Why are we striking? Q&A
Since launching the call to strike, we received several questions and criticism, particularly regarding our demand for a worker status. Since we feel it’s important to answer these legitimate concerns, we’re going to explain our views regarding this important matter.
Independent Contractors vs. Employees
CATS operates from the understanding that since strippers are already subject to employer regulations, and oftentimes abuse, they should receive the benefits that employees receive, which in turn allow them to fight against managerial abuse. Specifically, the benefits that unionized employees receive. That being sick leave, parental leave, paid time off for work related injuries, a livable wage, among many other standard worker rights. As it stands now, SWers who work under some form of management, i.e. strippers or parlour workers, occupy an extremely precarious position. These workers, who are without a semblance of workers’ rights, have to go along with whatever management throws at them, or risk losing their job.
We believe that our management uses the bar fee and our ambiguous worker status of “independent contractors” as a means of wage theft. While we either pay to work, or have a portion of our earnings taken from us, we do unpaid labour for our management. This labour includes but is not limited to cleaning, entertaining clients, and stage sets. These are all examples of labour that SWers do at our own expense. At the end of the day there are many nights (increasingly so), in the example of a strip club, where dancers come in, work an 8 hour shift, speak with many clients, do multiple stage sets, leave without earning any money, and still pay a bar fee of $25-$100 to be there. The bar fee and our status as “independent contractors” is exploitative, plain and simple.
If we are recognized as workers, we will lose our flexible schedules and accommodations. Employers will have even more leeway to discriminate.
Being recognized as workers doesn’t mean we’ll lose our freedom, quite the opposite! Right now, our schedules and work pace are dictated by the need to earn enough to pay the bills. In fact, you’re not able to call in sick if you haven’t made enough money and the 1st of the month is coming up. You’re not able to take breaks when you haven’t made a cent all evening and you’re in the red. Research from the website Bedbible showed that a dancer’s hourly income is only $20 USD, or about $27 CAD. According to IRIS, you need to earn an hourly of $28 and work full-time to live decently in Montreal. The ability to work whenever you want is therefore very relative.
Furthermore, nothing obliges employers to guarantee flexible schedules: more and more workplaces are imposing shifts on weekdays, penalties for coming in late, and requiring dancers to stay until 3 a.m. One bar even requires you to book your shifts several months in advance.
True freedom means access to paid time off. To achieve this, we shouldn’t compare ourselves to the worst jobs, but rather to unionized workplaces. Unionization allows for the negotiation of various employee benefits: sick leave, flexible time off, parental leave, and so on. It is also possible to have paid breaks. Employees do not have less control over their work pace; on the contrary, time theft is commonplace.
Furthermore, unionization formalizes schedule management, which leads to less discrimination. There are two legitimate ways to set schedules: seniority or first-come, first-served. By establishing a transparent practice in a collective bargaining agreement, we ensure that discriminatory scheduling practices are eliminated in our clubs, as the dancers at the Lusty Lady in San Francisco did by unionizing. It is also possible to request accommodations for people with disabilities or for parents. Of course, a militant and mobilized union is more likely to secure better working conditions. If schedule flexibility is important, we have to make it a union priority to make sure it stays.
If we were recognized as workers, we would face deductions from our income and be required to pay taxes.
Criminalization and informality do not exempt us from paying taxes. In fact, in practice, we are supposed to declare all the money we earn. Many sex workers already report their income, in whole or in part, despite the illegitimacy or stigma surrounding their work. The government regularly audits individuals who make cash deposits, which can lead to penalties.
While declaring income may reduce our net earnings, it also allows access to essential protections, including contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), as well as employment insurance which would provide benefits that many workers would like to access.
Declaring income would also provide greater legitimacy in many aspects of everyday life. For example, it becomes easier to rent housing, as landlords often require proof of income; it can simplify access to certain financial services; and it allows for long-term financial planning and savings.
In this sense, being recognized as workers is not only a tax burden—it can also be seen as a pathway to accessing rights, social protections, and greater long-term financial stability. Of course, we cannot and do not encourage tax evasion, but it is very likely that employers prefer to keep cash within their establishments. 😉
If we obtain worker status, migrant colleagues will be put in an even more precarious position, as they will no longer be able to work in this informal industry.
Migrant workers are present in all industries, not just criminalized work. On the other hand, it is true that they face a risk of deportation whether we organize or not. At present, immigration laws—combined with criminal provisions related to sex work—encourage increased repression of migrant sex workers. Police surveillance is common in our workplaces and primarily serves deportation objectives. Migrant sex workers may face loss of status, incarceration, and deportation if their work is discovered. In addition, bosses exploit the precarity of their status to threaten, manipulate, and control them.
The solution is not fewer rights, but more rights. In fact, migrant worker groups themselves are calling for access to labour standards regardless of immigration status.
Creating unions in our workplaces is also a strategy to push for decriminalization. If sex work were decriminalized, the laws governing it would shift from the realm of criminal law to that of labour law. This would allow sex workers with student visas or temporary work permits to work in the industry just as they do in other sectors.
We know that decriminalizing sex work will not instantly liberate our migrant colleagues. That is why we must stand in solidarity with them and align our demands with those put forward by migrant groups—particularly status for all and access to labour rights. By organizing in unions, we can push for demands such as ending police presence in our workplaces and organizing campaigns against the deportation of our colleagues.
If we move to an employee status, we will lose our right to refuse clients, presenting a critical safety issue.
Unfortunately in some workplaces, this is already the case. Oftentimes in massage parlours, once a client chooses a worker, the worker is unable to refuse the service, either because of a lack of managerial presence/protection or because the management threatens a penalty if the worker refuses to provide the service. The same happens in strip clubs. A familiar situation: the boss proposes that you dance for their friend. In this case, it is typically in your best interest to comply if you wish to keep your job or your good standing with management. Here, the power dynamic that is already at play, sets the grounds for the boss’s friend to push your boundaries or even refuse to pay you the amount you are due, since reporting them to the boss would inevitably put you in a precarious situation.
If we look at how sex work is being regulated in other places, we see the potential for what an employee status has to offer! In Belgium, where sex work was decriminalized in 2022, a new legal framework was passed in 2024 which gives sex workers employee contracts with concrete rights and protections. This includes 1) the right to refuse clients without financial penalty; 2) 6 months compensation if you happen to be fired for refusing a client; 3) the right to terminate your contract at any time; and 4) the application of a labour law which encourages the prevention of psychosocial risks at work.
Quebec’s labour law has recently taken steps in a similar direction: as of October 2025, Bill 27 imposes new obligations on employers to protect the psychological health of their employees with the same rigour that they would their physical health. Employers are now obligated to identify and prevent “psychosocial risks” in the workplace. These risks include: “work overload or imbalance between effort and reward; lack of autonomy or support from supervisors or colleagues; lack of recognition or organizational injustice; psychological harassment or workplace violence.”
If we take this into consideration, with the framework that Belgium has put in place, we have reason to believe that an employee status would actually provide us more protections and rights than what we currently have, as these conditions would allow us not only to refuse clients but also ensure that we would not risk our jobs in doing so.
If we demand more rights, we will enter into a constant power struggle with management.
That’s the point! As it stands right now, management does what they want, when they want, and we comply so that we can keep our jobs. That’s not freedom, it’s exploitation–and the current power imbalance makes it possible. The thing is, we have power as a collective, we just haven’t seized it yet. That’s why we must organize. As sex workers, we can be fired for the most ridiculous reasons. It’s either having no protections at all or having some protections by organizing with our co-workers. It’s a constant battle, and it’s scary, but we believe we have more to win than to lose!
Note about CATS “Enforcing” Strike and Demands
We won’t spend too long on this but we have received critiques for “enforcing” our demands in workplaces other than our own. We want to remind folks that we are not cops and we are not management. We don’t hold authority over anybody. We are your coworkers and neighbours. We are sex workers who are actively organizing in our own workplaces. You are not obligated to do anything with us, in fact we have absolutely no means of enforcing that in the first place. We are, however, strongly encouraging those who are ready to fight workplace abuse to take a stand with us, as we show our strength in numbers.
Some folks may not be ready for action, and that is completely understandable. As SWers we stand at the intersection of many forms of oppression and often lead lives that are precarious, making political action very difficult. However, CATS will be around whenever folks are ready to take action against their oppressors and take actions.
In solidarity!