美国国家公共电台 NPR--Exotic dancers in Hollywood push for unionization

Exotic dancers in Hollywood push for unionization

Transcript¹

A strip club in Hollywood is one of the latest places in the nation seeing increased unionization efforts. Dancers say their occupation is dangerous and they need more protection.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Exotic dancers in Hollywood want to unionize. They'd like to create the first strippers union to form in decades. From KCRW, Robin² Estrin reports.

ROBIN ESTRIN, BYLINE³: When the pandemic shuttered businesses, Reagan, a stripper with 10 years' experience and a degree in women and gender⁴ studies, did what a lot of workers did to survive - she took her business online.

REAGAN: Dancers started to create virtual shows that took out all of the middlemen.

ESTRIN: Online, dancers got to be their own bosses and their own bouncers.

REAGAN: If anyone is acting⁵ out of line or being rude or harassing⁶ us, we can just block them.

ESTRIN: When Star Garden Topless Dive Bar reopened, Reagan returned to work there. She says it wasn't the same.

REAGAN: We felt more disposable, probably because we knew that it didn't have to be that way. So it felt even more acute.

ESTRIN: We're using a stage name for Reagan and other dancers. They're worried about being targeted and staying safe. Safety is also why the dancers are fighting to unionize. They say the club's owners prohibit security guards from intervening on their behalf.

REAGAN: I had never heard that from a security guard in my life. You're not allowed to intervene. Isn't that your entire job? What are you doing, then? You're just standing⁷ around for decoration?

ESTRIN: Dancers who spoke⁸ out with concerns, including Reagan, say they were fired. Mid-March, Reagan's co-workers walked out in protest. Then they say management locked them out. The club's owners and attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Veena Dubal, a labor⁹ law professor at UC Hastings, says stripping is dangerous.

VEENA DUBAL: A lot of the people who do this work experience a lot of bodily injury. So it's the type of work that really needs workplace protections in place.

ESTRIN: Dubal says a strip club is a unique work environment, but the issues dancers face on the job are not, like wage theft and misclassification by employers who are skirting the law.

DUBAL: When people can't turn to the state, when they can't turn to their bosses, they turn to each other.

VELVEETA: Everyone inside has crossed the picket¹⁰ line.

ESTRIN: Star Garden's dancers have been picketing¹¹ outside the nightclub for months. They're trying to hit the club owners where it hurts - in the pocket. Here, a dancer named Velveeta is trying to turn away a customer. A young guy named Jacob Rosier¹² has parked his white pickup¹³ truck in the lot, and he's trying to walk into the club.

VELVEETA: Yeah. It's like, really...

JACOB ROSIER: Yeah. No, if you feel like you're unsafe, then no, you have every right to call a security guard.

VELVEETA: Yeah, exactly. Exactly, so...

ROSIER: Right.

ESTRIN: Rosier, from Texas, ended up in the club anyway. To successfully unionize, the dancers will have to enlist¹⁴ the support of the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees¹⁵ union elections. Here's Dubal, the attorney, again.

DUBAL: They have an extra hurdle¹⁶ - they have to prove that they're employees before they can benefit from any of the federal labor rights.

ESTRIN: Including the right to unionize. That's a right afforded to employees, not independent contractors¹⁷. And strippers are regularly misclassified. If the NLRB sympathizes with the dancers, the agency can force Star Garden's owners to rehire them. From there, they can unionize.

REAGAN: The first stripper union in 30 years, by and for strippers - that's going to be historic.

ESTRIN: This could take a while, but Reagan isn't waiting around. She and the other dancers are once again putting on their own shows and acting as their own bosses.

For NPR News, I'm Robin Estrin in Los Angeles.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

11 picketing   

[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线

参考例句：

• mass picketing of the factory 罢工工人集体对工厂的封锁
• "And my chaps were also there to prevent picketing! “我的人也是防着女工们要拦厂！ 来自子夜部分

12 rosier   

Rosieresite

参考例句：

• Rosier for an instant forgot the delicacy of his position. 罗齐尔一时间忘记了他的微妙处境。
• A meeting had immediately taken place between the Countess and Mr. Rosier. 伯爵夫人和罗齐尔先生已经搭讪上了。

13 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

14 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

15 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

16 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

17 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》