URGENT: Save our strip clubs, save our jobs!

HELP UNITED SEX WORKERS PROTECT WORKERS' RIGHTS: STOP COUNCILS BANNING STRIP CLUBS 

EXTREMELY URGENT CALL FOR SOLIDARITY!!

United Sex Workers are crowd-funding to launch legal challenges against strip club bans across the UK, starting with a judicial review against Edinburgh City Council. We desperately need your help – any contributions you can offer will help us fight to keep our livelihoods afloat and our workplaces open.

Strip club bans violate workers' rights at a time of severe economic crisis. They form part of a wider attempt by the state to oppress precarious workers and dictate what women and other minorities can do with their bodies. 

We **cannot** stop this without you, so please donate and share!

Background:

On the 31st March 2022, Edinburgh City Council voted in favor of a 'nil-cap' on 'Sexual Entertainment Venue' (known as SEVs) licenses - effectively shutting all Edinburgh strip clubs as of April 2023 and forbidding any new ones to open. The consequences of this for workers, including strippers, bar staff,  and security, will be devasting. 

This nil-cap is a result of one of the several SEV consultations that have taken place across the UK where workers' voices have been completely ignored. It leaves hundreds of precarious workers unemployed during a time of unprecedented financial insecurity and rising living costs.

Nil-caps are plainly unlawful as they discriminate against women and other marginalised groups, such as people with disabilities and migrants, who make up the majority of strippers. If Councils continue to adopt them, the consequences for workers across the UK will be devastating.

We have a legal team in place to challenge the nil-cap's compatibility with the Equality Act 2010 and are confident we will win. But we need your help! 


Costs:

It’s hard to anticipate the exact costs of the initial challenge but we would like to reach £20,000 which will help us with the case against Edinburgh City Council. This is the amount suggested to us by the legal team who are willing to take this case on and are ready and waiting to do so once we have the funds ready - with help from yourselves. 

After this, we’d like to continue crowdfunding towards £40,000 so we can distribute funds to any future legal costs towards the ongoing SEV nil-cap debate in Bristol.

Anything leftover from this fund will be distributed as hardship funds for our members who have suffered loss of earnings due to the SEV nil-cap. As a union we remain committed to transparency and a full breakdown of spending from this fundraiser will be provided. 


Community:

We are a grassroots, radical, and peer-led sex worker trade union who fight for the labour rights and workplace protections of sex workers across various parts of the sex industries including stripping, full service, porn, content creation and BDSM. 

Due to relentless acts by conservative campaigners, stripping, unfortunately, remains heavily stigmatised and there are serious risks of being 'outed'. The union has consequently decided to pursue action on behalf of our members, rather than letting the burden fall on a worker whose livelihood is already uncertain.


Listen to sex workers! Help sex workers! We have a right to work safely and to survive, and we need your support to fight against local councils as they continue to close our workplaces. 

Anything you can spare will be massively appreciated. 


Love & solidarity, 

USW