An Agency of Their Own. Sex Worker Union Organising

Gregor Gall's Agency of Their Own: Sex Worker Union Organising presents a history of collective organising attempts by sex workers dating from the late 1880s to the present day. The book's discussions draw on material from around the world, although it focuses particularly on modern‐day the USA and the UK, recounting both the attempts at organisation and the obstacles which, in the main, led to the downfall of the nascent organisations.

Chapter 1 introduces the key premise of the book – that “sex work” is a legitimate form of labour which can be a “genuine life choice” likened to other service sector occupations. Everything that follows builds on this; however, some readers may struggle to accept it as easily or as naturally as Gall does. Gall notes that there is a key distinction between the goals and agendas of labour trade unions (specifically interested in working conditions and pay) as opposed to more general unions such as pressure groups or civil rights groups (who will have a wider agenda). He goes on to explore early attempts at unionisation in the sex industry, chronicling a development from pressure groups towards labour unions. The chapter ends with an overview of the sources used to inform the book.

In his Chapter 2, Gall focuses specifically on the very beginnings of unionisation in sex industries. He considers the origins of the modern prostitutes' movement in the USA and France in the 1970s, which focussed on overall workers' rights and therefore had scope for wider inclusion of sex workers outside of specifically prostitution, such as dancers. Even further back, in 1880's Chicago, we see how the industrial workers of the world (IWW), striving for “one big union”, unionised prostitutes despite the moral and legal issues at the time. This chapter highlights two historically important influences on the unionisation of the sex industry – first, the historical patriarchy of trade unions (Gall uses the example of the IWW believing that increasing men's wages would prevent women having to work and would therefore restore a natural order) and second, the problematic contractual arrangements of those in the sex industry (exemplified by self‐employment of burlesque dancers and bunny girls). The chapter concludes by underlining the on‐going ambiguous employment status of sex workers and the barriers this creates to unionisation.

Gall then turns his focus to the modern the USA, with its large sex industry and low levels of unionisation. Chapter 3 provides insight into the struggles of some of the main activists, who experience victimisation, violence (in one case murder), and eventual “burnout”. Significant coverage is given to the “Lusty Lady”, a club which achieved full unionisation but then, in the face of economic difficulties, became a co‐operative. Gall goes on to highlight the hierarchy within the sex industry, with street walkers occupying the lowest levels and porn actors and actresses occupying higher status. The acknowledgement of these differences allows for discussion of the different barriers dependent on role within the industry. In the pornography industry calls for unionisation have been prompted by HIV outbreaks, but individual competition for remuneration and status through fame has hindered progress; whereas for street prostitutes the lack of legality and consequent need for anonymity has created a similarly strong, but very different obstacle. Gall does not, however, consider that differing self categorization by sex workers, even within the same occupation, may have an impact on unionisation possibilities. In Mavin and Grandy's (2011) study of exotic dancers negotiating their working identities, they pointed to dancers using the temporary nature of their employment to raise themselves above “career dancers” and legitimise their work through it being in pursuit of a higher goal (such as to pay for a university education). If, as Gall asserts, workers do believe in the legitimacy of sex work, this may be contingent on factors which are likely to hinder union organising. Before ending this chapter, Gall also points out the non‐union routes that have been taken in the USA, highlighting numerous class action law suits, mainly taken by exotic dancers, with the result largely determined by the court's view of a dancer's employment status. Gall concludes that the pattern of organising attempts in the USA strongly suggests that there is a desire for unionisation in the sex industry which is grievance rather than ideologically based and that in order to overcome the existing barriers an occupational labour union would be most suitable.

Chapter 4 turns attention to the UK from 1990 onwards. The story of the International Union of Sex Workers and their attempts to gain association with the Transport and General Workers Union and TUC provides some insight into the reluctance of UK trade unions to recognise sex workers due to concerns they would be seen as promoting a sexist and derogatory industry. The eventual alliance with the GMB highlighted the issues of recruitment and organisation which are particular to sex workers; specifically, with often unseen or unfixed workplaces, the trade union had to rely upon other trusted groups (e.g. health care providers or social workers) to gain access to its target membership. The consequent lack of membership has left the GMB with little strength or appetite to push for the development of industry standards, although Gall does identify some successes where the union has taken legal cases or supported members through grievance processes. Gall claims that the GMB had “some success in winning support for sex work discourse” at TUC Conferences, but does not substantiate this with any detail or explore whether it has had any significant impact.

Chapters 5 and 6 are occupied first with countries in the “Global North” and then with countries in the “Global South”, and the discussion surrounding unionisation attempts in both hemispheres raises interesting questions about legalisation of prostitution versus decriminalisation, and its impact on labour unionisation. Given that the key premise of the book is that sex work is legitimate work, it is surprising that Gall does not give more coverage to the legality issues – whether from the point of view of prostitutes themselves or in society's eyes, legitimate work comes with a an expectation that the worker should contribute to the social contract. Gall ignores the question of whether a typical trade union, with a social agenda or political allegiance, would naturally welcome to its ranks workers who are not playing their part in the taxes and contributions that society expects from workers. It also seems eccentric to divide the world up in this way; comparing New Zealand, Australia and Argentina with South Korea and India ignores enormous cultural, religious, economic and social differences and indeed Gall struggles to draw together any real conclusions beyond the fact that several different countries have seen attempts at unionisation.

Chapter 7 begins by asking two questions: “Why have sex workers become open to union organising?” and “Why have unions become open to organising sex workers?” Gall answers the first question by suggesting that through of self‐identification and promotion of sex work discourse, sex workers have themselves come to believe that their work is legitimate and therefore unionisation becomes logical. Further to this, joining existing trade unions gives sex workers access to a pre‐existing social movement which helps to further disseminate and legitimise sex work discourse. To answer the second question, Gall first addresses some issues that may have caused many unions' initial negative reaction to sex workers – stigmatisation of sex workers and male dominance within trade unions. However, Gall argues that the efforts of sex workers to organise themselves, and the side‐lining of radical feminist ideology, meant that union desire to gain membership began to allow for the inclusion of sex workers. Further to this, Gall suggests that the coming together of trade unions and sex workers provides an opportunity for both parties to find a form of unionisation that is effective for non‐traditional workers.

The book draws to a close with a recap of progress made and analysis of the persisting barriers to greater unionisation, and concludes that the issue is not whether unionisation is desired or possible in the sex industry but rather what type of unionisation is most appropriate. To this, Gall offers the answer of occupational labour unions. According to Gall, unions can, and should, have a role to play in improving sex workers' working lives and the best way to overcome the barriers of sex workers' contractual and environmental conditions would be the development of occupational labour unions, which will rely on the development of a stronger occupational identity amongst sex workers.

This book provides an interesting account of union organising in non‐standard working environments, challenging preconceptions of both unions and sex workers by showcasing the sex workers' struggle to influence their working environments and unions' responses to increasingly diverse working lives.

However, while providing a fresh view of union organising, the book underplays the role of gender in both union relations and, more strikingly, in the sex industry itself. The premise of the book, that sex work is legitimate and according to Gall, increasingly respectable, does not seem sufficiently justified. Gall does not fully acknowledge the complexities associated with dirty work (Hughes, 1951), i.e. work widely considered derogatory or disgusting. In addition, he ignores the societal factors which may have influenced the “choice” to enter such an industry and the development of working identity, which could hinder attempts to leave it, to challenge it or to influence it.

Given that the book relies primarily on narrative and description of attempts to organise, it would have benefitted from a clearer overview of sources and contextual information; such as the scale of the industries in question as Gall only provides a cursory overview. This leaves the reader unsure of how extensively Gall has, for example, interviewed participants, in turn making it difficult to weigh the validity of the book's conclusions.

The book raises thought‐provoking questions around trade unions' role and remit and the complexities of providing a voice for stigmatized workers, but it is hard to escape the feeling that Gall approached this study with the answer already set in his mind. He repeatedly asserts, including on the cover, that occupational labour unions are the most appropriate way for sex workers to organise themselves but he finds very little evidence that organising in this way has ever proved successful. The case could easily be made that what Gall presents is a catalogue of failure, or evidence that there is a need to look beyond conventional labour unions. However, this is clearly not the aim of this book, and as a provocative and wide‐ranging account of sex workers' attempts to organise themselves, it certainly succeeds in provoking ideas for further study and analysis. This book will be of interest to those who research, study or teach about issues of gender, particularly in a workplace context or those interested in workplace organising and industrial relations, especially under atypical working environments.

Eve EwingtonNewcastle University Business School, Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne, UK