A planned work stoppage during Canada's biggest motorsport weekend reveals a potential worker classification gap that extends beyond the adult entertainment industry
A group of strippers in Montreal are planning to strike on Saturday, May 23, timed deliberately to coincide with the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix — one of the busiest and most lucrative weekends of the year for Montreal's strip clubs.
The action is being coordinated by the Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC), a group that has been building toward collective action for sex workers since 2019.
The central grievance is one that labour lawyers and HR professionals across Canada will recognize immediately: workers who are classified as independent contractors but whose day-to-day conditions bear little resemblance to genuine self-employment.
“If they say we work three shifts a week, we do; if they say we show full nude on stage, we do; if they say our heels are too short, we buy taller ones, because if we don't we will lose our jobs,” SWAC said in a statement to media.
The strike's timing is intentional. By withdrawing labour on the most profitable weekend for strip clubs in the city — last year, 352,000 people attended the Canadian Grand Prix, according to Formula 1 World Championship — SWAC said it intends to demonstrate that the industry can’t function without the very labour it currently classifies under restrictive independent contractor terms.
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