Here's Why Some Strippers Are Refusing to Strike During Grand Prix Weekend

This story is adapted from an original article from May 13, 2026 in URBANIA, an online magazine based in Quebec focused on pop culture and society.

As the Formula 1 weekend draws near, a planned strike among sex workers is dividing the industry. At the heart of the dispute is the ‘bar service fee’ that strippers must pay clubs at every shift for the right to take the stage.

In late April, URBANIA reported that the Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC) was planning a strike on May 23 to demand better working conditions and the abolition of the bar service fee, calling for a return to hourly wages in strip clubs.

Now, a group of queer and racialized strippers called Pleasers on the Ground (named after their platform heels) has formed in response to that strike. They're adamant that the bar service fee isn't the problem—it's a guarantee of their autonomy, and a protection for the industry's most vulnerable workers.

The Bar Service Fee: A Question of Autonomy

"Personally, I don't feel oppressed by my bar service fee. It gives me the freedom to show up whenever I want, take breaks whenever I want, and switch clubs whenever I want," says Coco (a pseudonym), a stripper and student who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons and to protect her future career. A return to hourly wages, she argues, could undermine that freedom.

Coco has been in the sex work industry for six years. She adds that the bar service fee—and the self-employed status that comes with it—gives her the freedom to turn down clients for reasons of hygiene, intoxication, or their lack of spending funds. That freedom, she believes, could be threatened if workers lost their independent contractor status.

Pleasers on the Ground also argue that a return to hourly wages would put the most marginalized dancers at greater risk.

Protecting the Most Vulnerable

"I want my immigrant colleagues, who hide in the bathrooms when police come over, to still have a safe way to earn a living," writes dancer and collective member Nina La Cigale in a Substack post responding to the May 23 strike.

In Canada, open work permits explicitly prohibit employment at establishments that "regularly offer nude or erotic dancing, escort services, or erotic massages." The collective fears that formal employment status and a more rigorous hiring process would make it significantly harder—or outright impossible—for undocumented workers to continue working off the books in strip clubs.