It's been a year since the writer's strike ground scripted television to a halt, and we are still suffering PTSD from those videos of Toby and Ryan from The Office palling around with their picket signs, instead of hard at work hating each other and making us laugh. But the worst might be yet to come: the Screen Actor's Guild is trying to induce their members to vote on a strike that could once again shut down major Hollywood productions until a settlement is reached.
The only problem is that last year, our economy wasn't quite in the tailspin it was now. And some are feeling that there are enough out of work actors in the world as is.
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Isn't it about time that women who work in strip clubs got treated to the same labor laws that their blue-collar customers are forced to adhere to? The LDA (Lap Dancing Association) in the UK hopes that soon they can get more women on the books for their wages, so they can promptly take them out again in the form of union dues. Of course, the leaders of this Association (which are all male, and usually the owners of the clubs that have the dancers…how does that work?) say it's to keep the girls safe from any unfit work practices:
"Operating in accordance with the code will demonstrate a high level of professionalism and show that clubs recognise their responsibility towards their staff, dancers, customers and local community.
"We want to distance our industry from the sleazy image of drugs and prostitution.”
Sleazy? Prostitution? I don't know how things are done overseas, but here in America pole-and-lap-dancing is an exotic, youthful exercise done by soccer moms and Lindsay Lohan to strengthen and tone their muscles in lieu of high-impact yoga, not common strippers.
Update: That must be why the LDA is trying to argue that lap dancing clubs "do not base their business model on sexual stimulation." Well, true, they base their business model on bilking men out of their cold, hard cash and then forking over a percentage of the profits to the house, ensuring that a woman will never be financially independent enough to leave the business. Sexual stimulation is only a distasteful side effect of the whole business.
Everyone beats up on America for being the worst, but look, sometimes India is the worst too, as is the case of Bollywood shutting down because all their laborers went on strike:
About 147,000 workers belonging to a federation of 22 unions — representing workers ranging from extras and dancing girls to lighting technicians and camera operators — didn’t show up for work, calling it a "noncooperation movement," evoking Mahatma Gandhi’s words during India’s fight for independence.
Wait, they just didn't show up for work? That's actually way smarter than what the writers in LA and NYC did almost a year ago during the WGA strike, when they showed up, but then just walked in circles with painted signs. Suckers.
While it's easy to point and go "Look, other countries have their problems too" you know that it's inevitably going to come back to America and how we caused the economic collapse of everywhere, including India:
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