{"id":567,"date":"1996-02-09T14:17:41","date_gmt":"1996-02-09T22:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/eroticbynature\/?p=567"},"modified":"2014-05-13T14:21:15","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T21:21:15","slug":"taking-from-peter-to-pay-paul-bijou-group-theaters-put-dancers-on-payroll-then-cut-their-tips-comes-naturally-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/1996\/02\/09\/taking-from-peter-to-pay-paul-bijou-group-theaters-put-dancers-on-payroll-then-cut-their-tips-comes-naturally-43\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking from Peter to Pay Paul: Bijou Group Theaters Put Dancers on Payroll, Then Cut Their Tips (Comes Naturally #43)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

A Victory for Dancers Turns Sour<\/b><\/p>\n

The heat has been turned up in the ongoing conflict between lap dancers and the owners of three erotic theaters in San Francisco.\u00a0 On January 1, Bijou Group, Inc. — owner of the Market Street Cinema and the New Century Theater — reorganized the way it pays its dancers, complying with rulings by both the San Francisco Superior Court and the San Francisco Labor Commission that dancers must be paid as employees of the theaters, rather than as independent contractors as the owners have claimed for many years.\u00a0 The Labor Commission ruling came as a result of complaints filed by two dancers, Dawn Passar and Johanna Breyer, in 1993.\u00a0 Subsequent complaints have been filed by five other dancers as well.\u00a0 Each complainant becomes eligible to receive a court judgment for back wages and return of all management-imposed “stage fees” collected during their employment.\u00a0 Last October 5th, dancer Carla Williams was awarded a $52,600 judgment in one such settlement.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging for the first time that dancers are indeed employees, Bijou Group has begun paying dancers $4.25 an hour minimum wage.\u00a0 Payment of hourly wages has been a core demand of the Exotic Dancer\u2019s Alliance, a group working for improvement in dancers\u2019 working conditions at the theaters.\u00a0 Bijou Group can also no longer legally collect the “stage fee” ($25 per shift) which was the initial grievance that led to the organization of the Alliance.<\/p>\n

In addition to receiving an hourly wage, dancers as employees are now also entitled to unemployment insurance, <\/b>social security, and to disability and workman\u2019s compensation for work-related injuries.\u00a0 They also may not be fired without cause and have the option, at any time, of voting for union representation.\u00a0 (Representatives of the Service Employees International Union have expressed interest in representing the dancers, if they so choose.)<\/p>\n

Rather than absorb the cost of the new wages and the loss of the lucrative stage fees, Bijou Group has <\/b>restructured the way dancers are paid for lap and wall dances with customers.\u00a0 Customers have traditionally paid for lap and wall dances, which continue to provide the overwhelming bulk of dancers\u2019 income, with cash tips.\u00a0 Declaring that “the party is now over,” Bijou President Sam Conti reportedly announced to a meeting of dancers that customers would now purchase tickets for lap and wall dances from the theater, and then use the tickets as scrip to pay the dancers.\u00a0 Upon turning in the coupons, dancers keep 60% of their value, while management retains 40%.\u00a0 Dancers, in other words, are now effectively doing lap and wall dances on a commission basis, with management taking a 40% cut of what was previously their tips.\u00a0 Furthermore, dancers are now required to collect a minimum quota of the scrip ($120 for a four-hour shift, for example) or face disciplinary action from the theater.<\/p>\n

According to dancers present at the meeting, Conti pleaded financial hardship as the reason for the change citing, among other things, the cost of bookkeeping the new payroll.\u00a0 According to those present at the meeting, Conti warned dancers not to be “greedy like pigs,” cautioning dancers to “remember that pigs are slaughtered.”\u00a0 (Bijou Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 13, 1995.\u00a0 Court papers filed with the bankruptcy show that Bijou Group\u2019s average annual gross between 1992 and 1994 was $5.9 million.\u00a0 Bijou Group\u2019s reorganizational plan is pending in bankruptcy court, where it is being challenged by attorneys representing the dancers.)<\/p>\n

Dancers emerged from the meeting with Conti outraged that management was now essentially going to keep 40% of their tips.\u00a0 (In addition to its 40% cut, management is also keeping 30% of the dancers\u2019 share of tips as withholding for income tax.)\u00a0 In place of the previous $25 per seven-hour-shift stage fee, dancers now face minimum payment to management of $48 for a shortened four-hour work shift, or $96 if they work eight hours.\u00a0 Dunning employees for a percentage of their tips is illegal.\u00a0 However putting dancers on a commission basis passes legal muster.\u00a0 “It\u2019s unethical but legal,” admits Dawn Passar of EDA.<\/p>\n

Habib Caruba, an owner of the Market Street Cinema, argues that the change to a commission arrangement for lap and wall dances was necessary because the theater could not afford to pick up the cost of the new wages and the loss of stage fee revenue.\u00a0 “Trust me,” he said, “we\u2019re not making the money we were before.\u00a0 I would give anything to go back to the way it was before, but there\u2019s no possible way in hell we can go back to the old system.”<\/p>\n

Caruba claims to be sympathetic to the concerns of dancers about the new system.\u00a0 “If we don\u2019t have happy girls here,” he professes, “we\u2019re going to have a lousy operation.”\u00a0 He admits there was an initial hostile response from the dancers (“the first day of the new system we had only seven girls”), but says that over time more dancers are returning to work.\u00a0 (Whether this is because dancers have decided the new system is not so bad, or because they just don\u2019t have other employment options, is anyone\u2019s guess.)\u00a0 For the time being, the theater is limiting the number of dancers who work at any one time (using 50 women a day, instead of 80 previously), which Caruba claims is so that each dancer can do better financially.<\/p>\n

Caruba also claims that the $120-per shift minimum is a general goal, not a hard-and fast quota to be met after each and every shift.\u00a0 Dancers who bring in $80 or $100 from time to time, he says, have nothing to worry about, as long as it doesn\u2019t happen too often.\u00a0 Dancers whose earnings are consistently under the minimum, he says, are suspended for three days (“so they can go home and think over what they\u2019re doing”), after which they would be terminated if the pattern continued.<\/p>\n

“If a dancer is bringing in $30 or $40, day after day, maybe she should think about whether she really should be doing this kind of work.\u00a0 Maybe she should be a hostess or a cocktail waitress or something like that.”\u00a0 According to Caruba, no dancers have been fired for not bringing in enough money from dances.\u00a0 Two dancers, he said, have been suspended, both of whom later returned to work.<\/p>\n

Many dancers are refusing to work under the new arrangement.\u00a0 Some have gone to other lap dancing clubs [delete] (Mitchell Brothers; Crazy Horse; Gold Club; Stocks and Blondes).\u00a0 Others are not sure what they\u2019re going to do.\u00a0 When I visited the reconstituted Market Street Cinema in mid-January, there were far fewer dancers working than usual, and somewhat fewer customers as well.\u00a0 All the dancers I sat with expressed frustration with the new pay arrangement, but shrugged and adopted one form or another of what-can-I-do resignation.\u00a0 None of the dancers were in very good humor, to say the least.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, most of the lap dances are still being paid for with cash, rather than with the new “Bonus Bucks” scrip.\u00a0 When I asked dancers about this they said that although management at first insisted that they accept no cash, they later decided to let dancers take both scrip and cash, as long as they turned in a minimum of $120 scrip plus cash at the end of each four-hour shift.\u00a0 This is in conflict with what I was told as I paid my $15 cover charge to enter the theater.\u00a0 When I asked what posted signs referring to Bonus Bucks were about I was told that dancers would no longer accept cash tips for lap or wall dances, except during 15-minute topless free-for-all\u2019s that happen only a few times a day.\u00a0 I was also told erroneously that the policy was the result of a new tax law that had gone into effect at the beginning of 1996.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

The Dancers Respond<\/b><\/p>\n

Following the announcement of management\u2019s new policy, a series of meetings was called by the EDA to discuss what action the dancers could take in response.\u00a0 At the well-attended meetings, the possibility of striking and picketing the theaters was raised but rejected in favor of informational leafleting at the theaters until the issues being raised by dancers\u2019 attorneys with regard to Bijou\u2019s bankruptcy were resolved.<\/p>\n

Dancers are claiming priority creditor status in the bankruptcy hearing, based on back wages and stage fees owed them by Bijou.\u00a0 At a disclosure hearing January 22, Bijou was ordered by the court to send Proof of Claim forms to current and former dancers, and to post public notices in newspapers advising dancers that they can file as creditors for the money owed them.\u00a0 Final court approval of Bijou\u2019s reorganization plan will involve consultation with all creditors of record.<\/p>\n

On January 17th, a group of dancers distributed informational leaflets at both the Market Street Cinema and the New Century Theater.\u00a0 Many of the leafleters, fearing retribution from management, wore masks and scarves to hide their faces.\u00a0 A leaflet directed to customer, entitled “Do You Know Where Your Money Goes?”, explained the workings of the new financial arrangement.\u00a0 “On behalf of the women working under these conditions,” it continued, “we would urge you to consider where your money is going when you pay a cover charge or purchase a \u2018ticket\u2019 at the Market Street Cinema or Century Theatre — it is not going to the women who are providing exotic entertainment for you!”<\/p>\n

A separate leaflet directed toward dancers (“Dancers, Do You Know Your Rights?”) encouraged dancers to file Proofs of Claim and become priority creditors at Bijou\u2019s bankruptcy hearing.\u00a0 “Bijou Group owes you minimum wage and stage fees,” the flyer announced.\u00a0 “If enough dancers file and are confirmed as creditors we can vote against accepting Bijou\u2019s \u2018ticket\u2019 system to pay us back.”<\/p>\n

A half dozen leafleters moved freely in front of the Market Street Cinema, handing out material to both dancers and customers.\u00a0 The leafleters were received with a mixture of curiosity and support.\u00a0 At one point owner Habib Caruba came out and spoke politely with the protesters, encouraging them to come back to work at the theater.\u00a0 (When dancers working in the theater wanted to talk to the leafleters, however, they were kept by Caruba from going outside.\u00a0 “You\u2019re my employees now,” he told them.\u00a0 “You can\u2019t come and go as you please any more.”)<\/p>\n

The shift manager at the New Century Theater, visibly uneasy with the three leafleters distributing flyers there, was considerably less hospitable.\u00a0 He told the two women (and one male supporter from the Harvey Milk Lesbian Gay Bisexual Democratic Club) that they could not hand out flyers while standing in front of the theater but had to either move to the side or keep walking back and forth on the sidewalk.\u00a0 His unease may have come from the fact that during the hour and a half the leafleters were at the theater, almost no one was going in.<\/p>\n

When leafleters paused on the sidewalk in front of the theater to talk with friends and a reporter, the manager challenged them again, and threatened to call the police.\u00a0 “You guys are making my job real hard,” he complained.\u00a0 “You\u2019re going to get me in trouble if my boss comes by and sees you in front of the theater.”<\/p>\n

“Well, that\u2019s as far as I\u2019m going to go,” one leafleter objected.\u00a0 “You can call the cops if you want to.”<\/p>\n

Call the cops he did, only to have the two distinctly underwhelmed responding officers explain rather pointedly that leafleters had the right to stand, walk, pass out flyers, or do whatever they wanted in front of the theater as long as they didn\u2019t try to physically prevent someone from entering the theater if they chose to do so.\u00a0 When a desk clerk from the theater began arguing with the women passing out flyers, one officer intervened on the dancers\u2019 behalf.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t want these two group getting involved with each other,” he insisted to the clerk.\u00a0 “You guys [from the theater] go inside and let them do what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0 As long as they don\u2019t break the law, everyone\u2019s happy.”<\/p>\n

The clerk continued to argue with the leafleters.\u00a0 “What use is it to hit on the customers?” he wanted to know.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s their right,” the officer intervened, now more than a little irritated.\u00a0 “I just don\u2019t want any conflict between you two because if any laws are broken then we will come into it.\u00a0 Let me be very clear about that.”<\/p>\n

When the clerk continued to object, the cop became even more forceful.\u00a0 “Didn\u2019t you hear what I just said, sir?” he insisted angrily.\u00a0 “Stop arguing with these people and go back to work.”<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Of Big Issues and Small<\/b><\/p>\n

In the workings of power, small victories like this are significant.\u00a0 Management works its will with dancers because dancers don\u2019t believe they have any power they can hold up to the power of the theater owners.\u00a0 Not only are they “just workers” — easily fired and replaced — but they are stigmatized workers as well, people whose work by its nature puts them outside the sphere of courtesy and respect that even most low-paid employees know they are entitled to.\u00a0 When a stripper brings a claim before the San Francisco Labor Commission and is taken as seriously as any other complainant, it sends a message to all the other women who earn their living by taking off their clothes.\u00a0 It sends a message to all the club owners who make money off these women as well.\u00a0 The message is that strippers are real human beings with the same rights and privileges as everyone else.<\/p>\n

In the game of economic pushing and shoving there are some rules of basic decency that apply, even when we\u2019re talking about people whose work involves putting their bodies on the line in some way that is related to sex.\u00a0 For various reasons, over the last ten years or so stripping has attracted a number of women who have the gumption to stand up and say, “I won\u2019t let you treat me like that,” and the gall to seek various forms of redress from a cranky, but not altogether insensitive, legal system.\u00a0 The consequences have been far-reaching.\u00a0 In Oregon (as I reported in this column three months ago), in Alaska, in Texas, and now most decidedly in San Francisco as well (remember that the Mitchell Brothers are also defendants in a dancers\u2019 suit that could potentially cost them $7.5 million), legal decisions are changing the cavalier assumption by theater and club owners that they can pretty much do what they want with the women who work for them, because the women who work for them are socially branded as sexual misfits.\u00a0 This was the subtext of the little confrontation with the police at the Century Theater:\u00a0 The guys from the theater simply could not believe that dancers (with the support of the police) were actually getting to tell them<\/em> what they could and could not do.<\/p>\n

While the retaliatory tactics of the Bijou Group owners make clear that winning a court judgment does not immediately make the world rosy, the fact remains that in this particular power struggle dancers have a good deal more potential power than most of them imagine.\u00a0 They are consistently winning their legal actions in court.\u00a0 And the skittishness of management at the New Century Theater to a simple act of leafleting is noteworthy.\u00a0 Given the embarrassment many men feel at patronizing strip clubs in the first place, it doesn\u2019t take much of a fuss to turn theater customers away.\u00a0 A little stirring of the soup out in front and most guys seem to decide rather quickly to do something less attention-drawing with their time and money.<\/p>\n

If the response of customers to a few people handing out flyers at the New Century Theater was to unanimously avoid the place, a full-scale picket line by protesting dancers would surely keep the theaters all but devoid of customers.\u00a0 While this would cause temporary hardship for all dancers — a hardship that dancers who wanted to continue working would certainly resent — it wouldn\u2019t take long for the theater owners to understand that if they want their businesses to survive they\u2019d better change their attitude toward the women who make those enterprises going concerns.\u00a0 And once that<\/em> word got around the industry it would be a whole new ball game for everyone concerned, whether the issue was one of dollars and sense or one of simply being treated on an everyday level with common courtesy.<\/p>\n

Tempest in a teapot?\u00a0 Maybe so.\u00a0 The people in Bosnia or in Guatemalan jails could care less whether lap dancers are ever treated respectfully by their employers, and there are certainly injustices in the world that far outweigh this one.\u00a0 But the issue of not allowing yourself to be treated as a second-class citizen because you find yourself in some kind of noncompliance with antisexual proprieties — whether the transgression is about being gay, lesbian, bisexual, into s\/m, into swinging, into pre-marital or extra-marital sex, or doing one form or another of sex work — is<\/em> a significant one with far-reaching consequences.\u00a0 And, of course, when it comes to sexual edge-cutting, everyone notices what goes on in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

If and when dancers at the Bijou Group theaters decide to picket for real — asking customers to support them by not patronizing the theaters whose employment practices are unfair, and seeking support from organized labor as well — then it will be time for us guys who spend money on sexual entertainment to make a statement as to which side of this issue we\u2019re on.<\/p>\n

The fact is that the interests of the customers and the dancers at the theaters are very much in common.\u00a0 The better dancers are treated by management, the better customers are treated when they patronize the theaters; no two ways about it.\u00a0 As June Cade, the relatively enlightened manager of the San Francisco and Seattle Lusty Lady Theaters notes, when dancers have good working conditions, everyone wins.\u00a0 “We protect them so they\u2019re in charge of the situation,” she once explained.\u00a0 “It pays off for us; it pays off for the dancers; it pays off for the customers.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

February 9, 1996<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 1996 David Steinberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A Victory for Dancers Turns Sour<\/p>\n

The heat has been turned up in the ongoing conflict between lap dancers and the owners of three erotic theaters in San Francisco. On January 1, Bijou Group, Inc. — owner of the Market Street Cinema and the New Century Theater — reorganized the way it pays […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comes-naturally","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/loveandlust\/davidsteinberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}