‘Stripping is not exploitative, theft is’, strippers tell MPs

An adult entertainment activism group who are dancing through Parliament's petition process discuss issues, solutions and the experience of political engagement.

Given their broad scope of responsibility, Parliament's Education and Workforce Committee hears submissions from all sorts of individuals and groups.

Builders to bus drivers, teachers to travel agents, basically anyone with a job is by default, a stakeholder of much of the business that goes through the committee.

This week, one of those items of business was a submission hearing, regarding a petition from a group of workers that want better employment regulations for their industry.

That group, is called Fired Up Stilettos. On Wednesday, their towering heels treaded not the stage, but the corridors of Parliament, where two of their board members argued their case and answered questions from committee members.

In case you weren't up to scratch with the employment conditions of workers in the adult entertainment industry in New Zealand, strip clubs hire their dancers as independent contractors.

Given the sexual nature of the work, dancers say it wouldn't be ethically viable for them to be employees.

"Imagine a big part of your work being that you are commodifying your body and sexuality. Do you want to have a higher up person who's never worked in your industry, telling you how you can and cannot do that, that does not give you the autonomy that we in this industry are seeking," submitter Vixen Temple explained to the committee.

While in theory, this gives dancers more autonomy, in practice, workers in the industry have been subject to unfair working conditions, where pay is often docked with little or subjective justification given.

In this circumstance an employee might go to HR, or get in touch with their union; but current legislation dictates that independent contractors don't really have the ability to collectively bargain.

At the same session, MBIE officials also presented to the committee, and deciphered some of the legislative and policy conditions that would need to be considered should the petition be actioned by Parliament.

You may remember a bill going through Parliament a few years ago that allowed a collective bargaining exemption for workers in Aotearoa's film industry. The Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 gave New Zealand's movie makers, most of whom are independent contractors, industry specific protections.

Adult entertainment industry workers are asking Parliament to consider a similar, industry specific exemption under the Commerce Act, after what they say have been inefficacious attempts at engaging with the relevant bureaucratic frameworks. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details