Montreal Dancers Plan Strike Eve of Grand Prix

Montreal exotic dancers are planning a strike on May 23, the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, to demand recognition as salaried employees with full labor protections.

The walkout, organized by the Comité autonome du travail du sexe, known as CATS or the Sex Work Autonomous Committee, targets one of the busiest nights for the city's strip clubs. Dancers currently operate as independent contractors, paying nightly bar fees ranging from 40 to 100 Canadian dollars out of pocket and relying almost entirely on customer tips for income. Their demands include abolishing these fees, providing sick leave, ensuring safer working conditions, ending discrimination in hiring and scheduling, and granting the benefits afforded to other Quebec workers, such as coverage under provincial safety regulations.

"This is the first time that we're being vocal about our concerns," said Celeste Ivy, a Montreal dancer and CATS member. "We want to be heard. We want our work to be recognized as work." Ivy described frequent financial losses, noting, "It happens to every worker every year that we'll go home and find ourselves in the red." She recounted being out of work for weeks after an injury sustained...