by Ana Lopes

The IUSW started at a small meeting in London, in February 2000, which was attended by sex workers and some supporters. At this first meeting, participants agreed to form an organisation to campaign for sex workers’ rights. Shortly afterwards we agreed to have a banner made and to organise an action in Soho on International Women’s Day 2000. Ed Hall, a famous banner maker, designed our beautiful banner, which features the image of a line of exotic dancers, in a defiant attitude and in solidarity and the slogan “Sex Workers of the World Unite!”

The Wages for Housework Campaign, in conjunction with the English Collective of Prostitutes, called a global women’s strike on International Women’s Day 2000. Similarly, the ECP called a strike of sex workers operating from Soho, London’s most famous red light district. The strike was called over fears that the local authorities intended to remove sex work from the area through forced evictions. The strike seemed a good opportunity to show our support for those sex workers going on strike. Furthermore, we wanted to add a carnival atmosphere to the event. Although the group wholeheartedly supported the ECP’s action, it was felt that the ECP’s literature did not address the concept of pride. Thus, in one of our first meetings we decided to add the pride element to the event.

A students’ samba band was invited and an evening parade through the streets of Soho took place. The small group of organisers, under the name of International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW), took to the streets in flamboyant costumes, accompanied by drummers, members of the Sexual Freedom Coalition and students. Leaflets about the new group, prostitution laws and the sex workers’ strike were distributed as members of the public joined the parade. The event also saw the first outing of the banner that became famous and was seen in numerous other demonstrations.

Apart from the immediate success of the event, that brought together hundreds of people, it also generated media interest, especially from the gay media. On the basis of the interest showed by the general public and the media coverage, the small group decided to meet regularly and formalise the organisation.

The name International Union of Sex Workers occurred in a discussion with a co-founder of the organisation, Chris Knight. It had been agreed in the first meeting that the group’s main aim would be to establish sex work as legitimate work. Therefore it made sense to follow the footsteps of other workers and claim our place in the mainstream trades union movement. The word “International” came from our perception that the industry has “gone global” and therefore a successful mobilisation of workers should overcome national borders too.

During the first months of the organisation’s existence, our actions focused on recruiting new members, working on a manifesto document – our list of demands – and in developing a publication that would voice our demands and work as a networking tool for sex workers.

Our list of demands has since been distributed in leaflets at many events. It reads:

We demand:

• Decriminalisation of all aspects of sex work involving consenting adults.
• The right to form and join professional associations or unions.
• The right to work on the same basis as other independent contractors and employers and to receive the same benefits as other self-employed or contracted workers.
• No taxation without such rights and representation.
• Zero tolerance of coercion, violence, sexual abuse, child labour, rape and racism.
• Legal support for sex workers who want to sue those who exploit their labour.
• The right to travel across national boundaries and obtain work permits wherever we live.
• Clean and safe places to work.
• The right to choose whether to work on our own or co-operatively with other sex workers.
• The absolute right to say no.
• Access to training — our jobs require very special skills and professional standards.
• Access to health clinics where we do not feel stigmatised.
• Re-training programmes for sex workers who want to leave the industry.
• An end to social attitudes which stigmatise those who are or have been sex workers.

This list of demands was based on the developing policy of the organisation and on existing lists of demands within the sex workers’ rights movement. In particular, it was based on the “World Charter of Prostitutes Rights” that was created through the two World Whore Congresses held in Amsterdam in 1985 and in Brussels in 1986. (Pheterson 1989).

Respect!
Since the organisation’s membership was not geographically bounded, a problem arose in terms of creating and maintaining communication between members. Communication is important in order to create a sense of belonging and identity within the collective. It is also important in order to “attract” members into activism, into being part of the organising team.

Thus arose the idea of producing a newsletter to be distributed among members. A magazine was developed to be distributed not only among the collective’s members, friends and allies, but also to the wider population of sex workers and even the general public. The most active members of the IUSW expected that by reading the publication, sex workers could develop an interest in the organisation and decide to participate and that it would also raise their political awareness. Likewise, we thought that our publication could be used as an educational tool to the wider public who may not be aware of sex workers’ issues and struggles.

The IUSW magazine started as a collective effort of only a few members of the team. We wrote a few articles and collated them ourselves using merely Word software and only a hundred copies were photocopied. The final product, although satisfactory in terms of contents, was not appealing in terms of graphic design. Subsequently we benefited from the volunteer work of a professional graphic designer and the printing facilities at the University of East London.

Thus the union’s magazine first issue was published in July 2000. One of the co-founders of the association, Camilla Power, was responsible for the invention of its title RESPECT! – Rights and Equality for Sex Professionals and Employees in Connected Trades.

The first issue featured an article written by Rona, one of the group members. In the article Rona expresses her views on why sex workers should unionise.

'Yes it is a profession – I believe a perfectly respectable profession, and should be viewed as such in the same way as a teacher, accountant or anyone else. I believe that the first step is to obtain recognition for sex workers as legitimate workers in a legitimate industry and profession. The first move is to form a union and then press for the same rights as other workers enjoy' (Rona 2000: 4).

Writing and publishing the first issues helped us establish some important links, nationally as well as internationally. As mentioned above, the publication of Respect! was also one of the ways used to encourage participation of members and sex workers in general in activism. The editorial team was an open and equalitarian subgroup of the organisation. It is a fluid team where members can choose to be more or less active, according to their time availability, resources, skills and will to contribute. The redesigned IUSW website will take over Respect!’s role within the organisation.

Celebration and Pride
The IUSW has had a marked presence in several demonstrations and parades. Our participation signalled support for the events or causes they represented and also that we are not ashamed of ourselves – that we are there to come out as sex workers and that we have a position on the important issues that affect us as citizens. Thus, our banner has been out in events such as Gay Pride, anti-war demonstrations and International Women’s Day Marches.

Often sex workers, either members or supporters of the union, have expressed their solidarity with a certain demonstration but turned down our invitation to join us on the day. This is understandable since being seen in public carrying the union’s banner may identify them as sex workers, something they may want to keep secret from family and friends. This problem has been dealt with by other sex worker organisations (in the UK and worldwide) by both sex workers and non-sex worker participants wearing masks.

This has never been a practice encouraged by the IUSW since it reinforces shame feelings among sex worker activists. Emphasising pride, we work on the basis that truly empowered sex workers will not need masks . In the events in which the IUSW has participated, those of us who are comfortable to do so, plus our supporters who are not sex workers but who are advocates of sex workers’ rights, march without shame. While a feather boa is a distinctive feature of UK based sex work activism, and has been used by us in demonstrations, other symbols have been used by sex workers in other countries. The most widespread symbolic accessory in sex worker street actions is the red umbrella. It was first used by Italian sex worker activists in an action that coincided with the Venice Biennale. Since then, it has been adopted several times. In October 2005, it was used for visual impact at the street action that followed the European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labour and Migration. It is now an integral part of our logo.

Funding
Funding has always been a limitation to the IUSW growth and activities. The organisation is mainly funded by members’ donations. However, several fundraiser parties have been organised. Advertised as “Sex Workers’ Parties”, they were open to the general public too. The aim was to create a sex worker-friendly environment, where sex workers felt celebrated and honoured. This celebratory mood was expressed in the parties’ publicity (such as posters and leaflets), in the venues’ decoration and projection of videos, films and slides during the parties – all allusive to sex work as a potentially empowering activity. Simultaneously, we hoped to educate the general public and to provide them with an opportunity to socialise with workers in the sex industry. Negative and discriminatory social attitudes often stem from ignorance.

Helping to organise a party has been an accessible way in which members – especially new members – are able to participate in the life of the organisation. By giving members responsibility over certain tasks we intended to encourage sex workers’ and other members’ sense of ownership of the organisation and the event being organised.

We Demand
In July 2000 the Green Party in the UK contacted the Sexual Freedom Coalition and requested their recommendations on policies on prostitution. We were in turn invited by the SFC to help to write and present such recommendations. Dr Tuppy Owens and IUSW founder Ana Lopes researched the document and in the process interviewed several sex workers and solicitors. The recommendations document became the basis for the IUSW policy. It covers issues such as the legislation on prostitution, trafficking and pornography. It calls for decriminalisation of prostitution, reform of immigration laws, the creation of street sex work safe spaces and an end to restrictions on importation of pornographic material involving consenting adults.

After the document was written, we presented our recommendations to a group of Green Party delegates, in a meeting that took place in Conway Hall, London in September 2000. Our team consisted of the document authors, a sex worker, a member of the SFC, a member of the IUSW and academic, and a trades unionist and women’s rights activist. After a discussion among the delegates and further discussions within the party itself, the Green Party accepted our recommendations to inform their policy on the sex industry and pornography. This document is still the basis of the IUSW’s policy. Meanwhile, other documents have also been agreed.

In an attempt to verify whether the founding of the union, its policies and immediate plans were in accordance with other sex workers’ and sex workers’ allies’ wishes, an open meeting was called by the IUSW. The event took place on the 13th of September 2000 in Conway Hall, London. The invitation, sent out to IUSW members, allies, sex workers, project workers and academics, stated that the aim of the meeting, entitled “Organising in the Sex Industry” was to “informally debate which directions the IUSW should take”.

The meeting was attended by around 30 people from several backgrounds: individual sex workers, sex work project workers, international sex work activists. All participants welcomed the initiative of founding a union for sex workers and possible future plans were discussed, including gaining recognition from the TUC (Trades Union Congress), liaising with local sex work projects through the national network of projects and liaising with the international sex workers’ umbrella organisation, the Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).

The IUSW has maintained close links to these two umbrella organisations – one national and the other international – and has in fact had a place in both organisations’ directive boards. This has ensured that the IUSW is integrated in the wider international movement for sex workers’ rights – we keep abreast of the realities of sex workers’ lives and sex workers’ activism internationally.

Nationally, our relation to the network of service-providing agencies has been crucial, as the network has proved to be a great ally of sex workers in our fight for rights. Furthermore, service providers and outreach workers are in regular contact with a large number of sex workers. Their work entails the establishment of a trusting relationship, which is used to pass on information about health, HIV/AIDS and STI prevention, etc. Many have incorporated information about the union and labour rights as part of their services.

We are Online
In 2001, a member of the SFC volunteered to set up the IUSW website. The development of the website had major implications for the growth of the IUSW, since sex workers and friends across the world were able to join the organisation on-line. This volunteer has also created an e-mail group list on which members can post announcements or contribute to discussions. The creation of the website discussion group has made the IUSW truly international. Sex workers and allies can join on line and nowadays the organisation counts with more than a thousand members – from all parts of the world.
The discussion list is a self-empowering tool for sex workers. It is used daily by members from different countries to discuss working conditions (in strip clubs, brothels, etc.). Comparing working conditions between establishments in the sex industry contributes to the empowerment of sex workers. Often, sex workers are isolated and do not know that the exploitation they suffer is not universal – that there are other establishments where workers have more rights and are treated with more dignity.
Some members have also posted questions on the list about the legality of sex work in a country to which they intend to migrate. The gathering of this type of information is empowering: it greatly contributes to the safety and well being of migrant sex workers. In the IUSW list, this type of information is requested by the sex workers themselves and usually offered by sex workers themselves (although sometimes members who are service providers do contribute as well) – that is, the list is self-empowering.

The list is also a networking tool, as it is used by IUSW members all over the world to share organising experiences and maintain contact. Daily contributions to the list include reports, press releases and press clippings relating to the actions of sex worker activists and organisations. Furthermore, the list is used to share resources for sex workers (guides, websites, useful contacts, etc.)

The Sky is the Limit
The IUSW membership has expanded in terms of both numbers and countries covered. Sex workers and allies in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania have joined the organisation. However, there are no IUSW-led activities in these countries. Members keep in touch through the website, e-mail list and occasionally by post or telephone.

In Canada, however, there has been an attempt to create a formal branch of the IUSW. Although it has not yet been made formal, there are a growing number of sex workers and allies who have adhered to the IUSW and do act on behalf of the IUSW in Canada. They have, for example, represented the IUSW in the organisation of a festival for sex workers’ rights that took place in February 2003.

The IUSW’s integration within the international movement for sex workers’ rights has become firm through our participation in the umbrella organisation (the NSWP) and through our participation in international conferences and events. The IUSW has been present at important conferences such as “Sex Work and Health in a Changing Europe”. Through several of our members, the IUSW has also had a presence in various international conferences. For example, IUSW members have presented at international conferences such as the International HIV/AIDS Conference held in Barcelona, Spain in July 2002 and at the International Harm Reduction Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2003. One of our members led a training session at an international event organised by the ENMP (European Network of Sex Work Projects) and we have received invitations to address sex worker organised meetings and conferences in Sweden, Taiwan and Hong Kong. More recently, there was an IUSW international delegation at the European Conference on Sex Work, Labour Rights, Work and Migration that took place in Brussels, in October 2005.

The Passage of the Rubicon
Gaining official recognition as a union has always been a priority to the IUSW. Various agencies have been helpful in attempts at achieving such recognition. In July 2001, the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights invited two members of the IUSW to the Gay and Lesbian TUC (Trades Union Congress) Conference that took place in London. The IUSW took the opportunity to meet with union gay and lesbian officers and flag the idea of getting TUC recognition for our recently created sex workers’ union.

The rationale behind the move was that gay and lesbian officers would be more likely to be sympathetic to our cause than other union officers, given the parallels between the sex worker and gay population - the stigma attached to both and the history of the movement for gay rights.

Although the conference was fruitful in terms of networking with different unions no signs of TUC recognition resulted from it. Most officers approached were interested in our case and sympathetic on an individual level, but no headway was made in terms of getting unions interested in representing our group of workers.
In November 2001, one of us attended the No Sweat annual conference. No Sweat is a worldwide campaigning organisation that stands against sweatshop labour. Sweatshop is a term originally coined in nineteenth century that refers to unsafe working places where workers labour for very long hours and for very low pay. No Sweat aims to publicise, expose and eradicate sweatshop employment. They claim that the way forward is to help unionise sweatshops and that joining a union is the way to enforce existing laws and extend labour rights.

At the conference, a GMB London Region officer presented a new GMB campaign to unionise sweatshop labourers working in East London. This campaign counted on the support of No Sweat. The officer argued that it was the duty and responsibility of a general union like the GMB to organise sweatshop workers and to play an important role in helping to minimise their exploitation and improve their working conditions. The similarities with the sex industry became obvious.

No Sweat and GMB’s approach was pragmatic – they called for unionisation in order to raise working conditions and exert pressure on bosses and managers. The ultimate aim of the campaign was to eradicate sweatshop labour – not the whole garment making industry (or other industries where sweatshops can be found). Likewise, the IUSW campaigns for the establishment of labour rights in the sex industry, protection from exploitation and the eradication of violence and harassment – not the eradication of the whole sex industry.

At the end of the conference, Ana Lopes approached the GMB officer, introduced the IUSW and requested the GMB’s help in bringing our organisation onto an official footing. I was impressed by the seriousness of his response. Later, he would confess that, at first, he thought he was being filmed for “candid camera”. We did set up a provisional meeting. Talks and negotiations between the IUSW and the GMB London Region started soon afterwards. The GMB committed itself to establish a branch within the London region to represent sex workers.

We would have to work together – because while the IUSW team was familiar with the realities, issues and problems faced by sex workers, we had no knowledge of organising in the context of the mainstream trades union movement. The GMB union and its officers were happy to provide us with support and knowledge in that area, but on the other hand, they were not familiar with the sex industry and did not know to what extent it differed from other industries.

Given the opportunity to join one of the biggest mainstream unions in the UK, the IUSW invited its members to a meeting in order to discuss whether this was a move that would benefit sex workers. This meeting was intended to be an open meeting – the IUSW felt that it was a small and relatively new organisation, and could not therefore claim to represent the whole sex worker community. A great effort was put into publicising the meeting. Projects and service providers were very helpful in passing the message on.

This historic meeting took place on the 2 March 2002 and it was attended by around 70 people. There were representatives of most sectors of the sex industry – from prostitution, to strip tease, pornography and phone sex. There were several representatives of service-providing agencies, as well as clients of sex workers.

The special guest at the meeting was a representative of the Dutch sex worker organisation The Red Thread (De Rode Draad). This contribution was of utmost importance, since the government of the Netherlands had just legalised the sex industry, which gave The Red Thread - a collective of sex workers and allies established in 1985 - the opportunity and impetus to enter into talks with a recognised union with the view to affiliation. Thus, we had a lot to gain in the UK from hearing about the Dutch experience. Some of the difficulties highlighted at the meeting were soon to be faced in the UK, e.g. barriers to recruitment such as fear of overriding anonymity. The meeting also included presentations by the first of a long list of sex workers to be served with an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) in London. The main outcome of this historic meeting was the consensual vote of its participants to affiliate the IUSW into the GMB and thus to create the first sex workers’ union branch in the UK. It was also agreed that the IUSW would maintain its existence as a grassroots organisation for two reasons. Firstly because IUSW membership is international whereas the GMB union is a national organisation – the IUSW would then still be able to represent its international members independently from the GMB union. And secondly as a safety measure – were the experience of official unionisation to fail, sex worker activists in the UK would still have a forum to find expression for their demands within the IUSW. Thus the branch was established and spokespeople appointed.

Since March 2002, as an official GMB branch, our efforts to establish our active participation within the mainstream labour movement began. After attending and passing a motion at an internal GMB union conference (GMB National Equal Rights Conference) we had the opportunity to attend and pass a motion at the TUC (Trades Union Congress) Women’s Conference in March 2003. The motion, drafted by branch members, called for the trades union movement’s support for sex worker unionists and for the TUC’s commitment to demand from government a full review of the legislation on sex work. It was passed universally with four abstentions from the T&G women delegates.

In June 2003, history was made when the Sex Industry Branch representative addressed the Biannual National Congress of the GMB, held in Blackpool. The motion presented called for the union’s support for sex workers’ campaigns, especially for the decriminalisation of prostitution. Then the rostrum was opened to GMB delegates to speak for or against the motion. A lay member stood up to say he worked in an industry that was possibly also condemned by many people in that room: the nuclear industry. The great difference between himself and a sex worker, he argued, was that his work was considered legal and legitimate and therefore, he could enjoy labour rights and legal protection. That was why he supported sex workers’ demand for decriminalization of all aspects of adult sex work, independently of the moral position each individual has a right to hold, as a way to secure safety and rights for those who work in the sex industry. The motion was passed unanimously, proving the amount of support the branch has secured from all regional sections of the GMB.

Furthermore, in 2003, the Branch was invited to speak at two events organised by the mainstream trades union movement. The first event was a panel of speakers organised at Glastonbury Festival. Other panellists included a senior representative of the FBU (Fire Brigades Union) and Billy Bragg – famous musician and campaigner who spoke about the launching of a GMB campaign to unionise road crews workers and in which Bragg had a prominent role.

The second event was the Tolpuddle Festival, an annual event that celebrates the Tolpuddle Martyrs, pioneers of trade unionism in the UK. In the early nineteenth century, a small group of agricultural workers from a small village in Dorset were harshly punished and transported to Australia for forming a trades union (Monks 1999). Ever since they have been remembered by trades unionists in an annual march, which has now extended into a three-day festival in the village of Tolpuddle.

At this event the IUSW led a workshop and also spoke on the main stage to thousands of trades unionists. Both talks were very well received and it was clear that most union activists accepted sex workers as part of the mainstream labour movement. The IUSW presence at the festival was also noted as symbolic and a parallel was drawn – after all the event is a celebration of workers’ rights to organise and sex workers have just established that right for ourselves.

In 2002, in the early days of the Sex Workers’ Union Branch, we were approached by one of the managers of a new table-dancing club in the Docklands area, London, requesting the union’s involvement in the new club. It is important to note that it is not at all common for the management to look for unionisation of workers, since unionisation is in the workers’ interests and often in conflict with the management’s interests. Thus the Sex Industry Branch challenged this request and speculated whether there was a genuine interest in sex workers’ rights. Perhaps the reasoning behind this unusual request was that with union recognition this particular table dancing club would attract more clients, who would feel “less guilty” about visiting a table dancing club knowing that those who work there were given proper labour rights. Nevertheless, we investigated the request and did not find a reason why we should not organise the workers of this table dancing club.

Thus, before the opening of the club a union recognition agreement was signed by the table-dancing club and the GMB. Majingo’s was the first table-dancing club to recognise a union in the UK. The recognition agreement contains important clauses that secure the union’s powers within the club and ensure that workers are given resources – rather than being penalised – to run union activities.
The agreement establishes the right of the GMB to represent and negotiate on behalf of its members who work in this table-dancing club. It also recognises the GMB as the sole bargaining agency for collective issues concerning conditions. All new dancers are to receive a union membership form. Union representatives are elected regularly and trained by the GMB and facilities to arrange meetings between workers and union officials granted by management. The union has also agreed the code of conduct (for dancers, managers and clients). It is agreed that management cannot make changes to this code or any of the club rules (e.g. stage fees) without informing the union.

In August 2002, another table-dancing club approached the GMB office. Club Crème, in Bristol, is run by a woman, a former table-dancer herself. This manager has encouraged a large number of workers to join the union. Again, a code of conduct was agreed and a union recognition agreement signed. The club’s managers and dancers have recently requested our help in setting up a Bristol forum consisting of dancers, club managers, council representatives, the police and representatives of the local community.

Union agreements are a tool of labour organising anywhere in the world. They do not imply that business owners have a place within the union. The sex workers’ branch of the GMB is there solely to represent sex workers and to further their agenda.

The International Union of Sex Workers emerged out of the need for a forum from which sex workers could voice their demands. The organisation was formed mainly in order to campaign for labour rights for all sex workers. In its first five years of existence, the organisation has mobilised sex workers locally and internationally.

Within only two years of its existence the IUSW had achieved one its main demands – the establishment of the right for any sex worker to join a recognised union. The acceptance of sex workers by fellow members of the GMB and the labour movement was not immediate but achieved by networking efforts.