Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 23, 1995 TAG: 9505230087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
About 100 exotic dancers in southeast Virginia are considering suing go-go club owners for allegedly plotting to lower their wages.
Members of the newly created Virginia Association of Professional Entertainers said they used to earn $7.50 to $11.25 for each half-hour set they performed. But two weeks ago, group leader Pam Cullum said, about a half-dozen club owners conspired to pay dancers $5 a set.
``They want us to dance like professionals, but they don't want to pay us,'' Cullum, an exotic dancer for 21 years, told the Daily Press of Newport News. ``People think we make all this money, but the fact is we sometimes make less than minimum wage.''
At the same time some owners cut wages, some also jacked up the price of alcoholic drinks, Cullum said.
Cullum said the recent events were the last straw in a series of degradations. Club owners for years have sexually harassed dancers and provided unsanitary dressing rooms, she contends.
VAPE stops short of calling itself a union, but Cullum says the group hopes ``to move in that direction.''
Jack Bolno, who owns seven clubs in the Hampton Roads area, said he cut wages and raised drink prices merely to stay in business. Bolno denied that he conspired with other club owners to fix drink prices.
``If [the dancers] came in and saw my bills and saw the cost of doing business, they would not take my job,'' he said. ``This is purely economic.''
The dancers group has hired legal and benefits consultants to advise them.
``Most of these girls depend on these jobs as their sole source of income for them and their children,'' said the group's legal consultant, Hampton attorney Ron Smith. ``Some of them are also college students. They can't afford to lose these jobs.''
The dancers have gripes similar to those that other workers - such as truck drivers, steelworkers and garment workers - had before banding together or turning to unions for help, said Dan Cornfield, a Vanderbilt University sociology professor who specializes in labor issues.
But some observers say the dancers could have a hard time proving their accusations.
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein said he's not surprised the dancers have banded together, but he doubted they can win sympathy from the general public.
``The odds are totally stacked against the dancers,'' said Lichtenstein, a professor at the University of Virginia. ``Without a lot of public support and a lot of extraordinary things happening, these women are likely to lose.''
The chance of defeat is one reason they did not come forward sooner with their grievances, said Angel Ketterman, a go-go dancer and group member.
``A lot of the dancers didn't think they could do anything about it,'' she said. ``They are in fear of their jobs.''
by CNB