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The 15-month effort to gain union recognition by dancers employed at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood, California, ended in victory this week. For the 116th episode of Private Parts Unknown, host Courtney Kocak welcomes Velveeta, one of Star Garden's newly unionized strippers, to explain how this historic milestone came to be.\nOn Monday, May 15th, lawyers representing the owners of the Star Garden withdrew all election challenges, agreed to recognize the union, and will meet with the Actors\u2019 Equity Association across the bargaining table within 30 days to negotiate a first contract. The club also will reopen for business and bring back dancers who were dismissed last year.\nThe spark that ignited the unionization campaign was lit in March of 2022 when the club\u2019s security guards repeatedly failed to protect dancers from threatening and abusive behavior from patrons. Dancers were illegally fired for bringing concerns about safety and security to management. With the assistance of Strippers United, a 501(c)3 organization led by strippers that advocates for strippers\u2019 rights, Star Garden\u2019s strippers began picketing outside the strip club to protest unsafe working conditions. Picketing continued every week through November outside the club\u2019s location on Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, California.\nLast August, the dancers announced they had affiliated with Equity. Shortly afterward, the national union filed for an election with the NLRB on behalf of the dancers. In the fall, the labor board conducted an election by mail. A vote count was scheduled for November, but the results were put on hold by the NLRB due to employer objections and legal filings. The NLRB was scheduled to hold a hearing this week over the employer objections. That hearing is now unnecessary and has been canceled.\nStar Garden\u2019s dancers are not the first strippers to seek union recognition. Strippers at San Francisco\u2019s Lusty Lady organized the Exotic Dancers Union in 1997. They were affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. The Lusty Lady closed in 2013.\nSo that\u2019s how the Star Garden dancers became America's only unionized strippers at the moment. Perhaps they will inspire others just like they were inspired by the Lusties.\nFor more from today's guest:\n\nFor more about Stripper Strike Noho! and how you can support the cause linktr.ee/stripperstrikenoho\n\n\nFollow Stripper Strike Noho on Instagram @stripperstrikenoho\n\n\nFollow Strippers United on Instagram @strippersunite\n\n\n\nPsst, Courtney has an 0nIyFan$, which is a horny way to support the show: https://linktr.ee/cocopeepshow\nPrivate Parts Unknown is a proud member of the Pleasure Podcast network. This episode is brought to you by:\nhttps://linktr.ee/PrivatePartsUnknownAds\n\nIf you love this episode, please leave us a 5-star rating and sexy review!\xa0\u2014>\xa0ratethispodcast.com/private\xa0\nPsst... sign up for our Private Parts Unknown newsletter for bonus content related to our episodes!\xa0privatepartsunknown.substack.com\nLet\u2019s be friends on social media!\xa0Follow the show on Instagram\xa0@privatepartsunknown\xa0and Twitter\xa0@privatepartsun. Connect with host Courtney Kocak\xa0@courtneykocak\xa0on Instagram and Twitter.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices