Hey, you're listening to Imperfect Paradise from Alaya Studios.

I'm your host Antonia Serrejido.

This is part two of our four-part series Imperfect Paradise Stripper's Union, the behind-the-scenes story of the first

U.S. Strip Club to unionize in decades. Previously, we met the dancers at

Star Garden Topless Dive Bar and learned about the safety issues and sense of community

that led the dancers to mobilize.

We just had a lot of love for each other.

And we solidified that the only way we're going to be able to do something is if we

organize together.

This episode, what happens when the Star Garden Dancers go public with their campaign and receive some

pushback. I think that it's really easy for white folks to have like some fragility

when you first come to them with issues like that.

And what happens as their campaign persists.

I feel like an American.

Like, I don't know, it's like finally able to vote for something

because I can't vote for anything.

So it was really exciting.

After an hour of a closed meeting,

these dancers and their supporters

watched on a Zoom call as the vote was stopped.

The employer is challenging 16 of the 18 ballots received.

Elie's producer Emma Alabaster takes the story from here. Spring and summer of 2022 was a time of picketing for the Star Garden strippers.

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