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Rachel F. Elson Brooklyn New York rachelelson@yahoo.com 415-336-5262		From P.O.V. magazine March 1997 Exotic. Erotic. Organized. BY RACHEL ELSON Only in San Francisco. While the labor movement across the country has been flagging since the 1950s, the headlights of hope are shining in the City by the Bay: The Lusty Lady theatre -- a strip club in the town's North Beach neighborhood -- has gone union, pairing with Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union to create an Exotic Dancers Union. The catalyst was sheets of one-way glass that has been installed over the dancers' objections. They've been taken down, leading us to wonder what this small victory portents for the adult entertainment industry. Will mass unionization drive up the price of lap dancers everywhere? Doubtful. For one thing, points out Lusty dancer and organizer "Jane," most nude dancers get paid as independent contractors, and are therefore ineligible for collective bargaining. The Lusty Lady's hourly wages make the club the exception, rather than the rule. What's more, while the SEIU local is providing the girls with a union negotiator and moral support, organized labor isn't exactly rallying the scantily clad troops. Phone calls to national labor headquarters turned up no similarly organized strip clubs -- though no one could confirm that they didn't exist -- and a great deal of bewilderment. "It's, well, a rather unusual occupation," was all the public affairs office of the AFL-CIO was willing to offer in the way of enlightenment. Still, with the one-way glass long since removed, what's at stake for the Lusty dancers are fairly basic workplace issues: The girls want a guaranteed minimum number of shifts, a written disciplinary policy, fixed raise schedule and sick leave. "And," Jane says, "I guess health insurance would be kind of nice." From P.O.V. magazine