As we've been campaigning to restore overtime protections for salaried workers in our state, we've encountered a somewhat surprising voice speaking out in opposition to workers' rights: a handful of nonprofit executive directors and nonprofit industry groups have been siding with the business lobbyists and trying to convince the state that people working extra hours without extra pay is just the way things are.
Read Moreit's time to talk about 2019
The results are in and we know who's representing us in the WA Legislature next year. And now, it's time to start thinking about what we want our elected officials to get done in 2019.
You're a member, so we want to know what you think should be on our statewide workers' rights agenda next year!
Click below to tell us which issue is the biggest priority for you…
OUR TIME COUNTS (statewide secure scheduling + restoring overtime protections)
RIGHTS INTO REALITIES (tools to hold employers accountable + community-based enforcement)
REDUCING INCOME INEQUALITY (benefits for gig workers + reining in CEO pay + Working Families Tax Credit)
We're fighting for some pretty cutting-edge changes to the way we think about workers' rights, so it's vital that we get input from workers all across the state. Click here to let us know what you think!
long hours in sky-high heels
Amber works in the adult entertainment industry and is joining together with fellow dancers to take on issues like high house fees, a lack of benefits or time off, often-dangerous working conditions, and more. Check out Amber's story below.
“I have been working as an exotic dancer in Seattle for almost 13 years. There are many things I love about my job. Chief among them is the freedom and flexibility that dancing provides. We can work as frequently or as infrequently as we choose. I have taken advantage of this by taking extended time off to travel or work on artistic projects.
But there are many drawbacks as well.
Dancers do not receive a paycheck from the club, instead relying solely on tips from customers for our income. We are not classified as employees but as business owners. We are responsible for reporting our income to the IRS and making quarterly payments. We do not qualify for benefits of any kind. If we get sick or injured and can't work, our income drops to zero.
Exotic dancers are also forced to pay fees to the club daily in order to work. The club I work at charges me $140 per shift. This is referred to as a "house fee" or "rent" because I am theoretically renting the club as a space to work in.
The club expects us to pay the house fee in full at the end of every shift, regardless of how busy or slow the shift was. If I cannot pay the fee (for example, if I only made $80 in tips that night) then I owe the club the remainder of that money. This is referred to as "backrent." Backrent must be paid off in cash. The club charges an extra $30 per shift to dancers who have backrent until it is paid off.
I usually can pay out in full, but there are many dancers who struggle to earn their house fees and end up accumulating thousands of dollars in backrent. If you are scheduled for a shift and call in or miss that shift, the club will add the full $140 house fee to your backrent.
I once acquired $420 worth of backrent because I had to call in for a week when I had the flu.
On an average shift, I pay anywhere from $140 - $280 in house fees to the club and have to tip out $60 - $80 to the DJ, bouncers, and waitresses. Any money I make above and beyond that I get to keep. This means that the first $200-$300 I earn per shift, I don't even think of as mine. On a slow night I can leave with $0 for myself.
This happens to every dancer at my club occasionally. Even the high earners have nights where they work a full 8-hour shift and leave with nothing to show for it.
In fact, it's entirely possible to work a shift and end up in the hole, leaving with less than you had when you arrived, because now you owe the club backrent and you had to pay for parking downtown, food while you were at work, and more. This has happened to me, and it's very discouraging. No one should work all day and earn nothing.
It doesn't have to be this way. There are clubs in other states (Alaska, for example) where the dancers get minimum wage paychecks and keep their tips. I have worked at clubs in Portland, Oregon, where there was no house fee and no backrent.
I don't understand why the clubs in Seattle charge such outrageous fees. I suppose the simple answer is because they can.Because no one is stopping them.
I did the math once and realized that I pay 2 or 3 times as much "rent" to the club as I do to rent my 2-bedroom apartment each month. It's a ridiculous amount of money to pay for the privilege to work.
I love dancing. I love being an independent contractor. I'm happy to pay tips to the staff and even a reasonable house fee. I'm just frustrated with the abnormally large portion of my income that goes to some old white guy who I have never met (Roger Forbes, whose company owns almost all the strip clubs in Seattle).
It shouldn't be this way. Dancers work hard for our tips. We work long hours in sky-high heels. We should be able to keep more of what we earn.”
— Amber, dancer in Seattle
"I do not work an extensive number of overtime hours. But I do work a few hours every week, and I do not get paid for them."
In my case, what has been done to my coworkers over the last twenty years impacts other employers, who will find me (and others like me) suspicious of their intentions when they advertise for new positions as exempt.
Read MoreStatement regarding minimum wage study released today
Yep: raising wages raises wages. Seattle workers know that from looking at their paychecks. Glad to see the PhDs are finally catching up.
Read MoreOctober 25th is Free Time Day for salaried workers
Today’s the day when the average salaried worker — who puts in 49 hours a week — has already worked full-time hours this year. And since most salaried workers don’t get overtime pay when they work overtime hours over 40 in a week, all your time for the rest of the year is effectively free for your employers.
Read MoreWe're speaking out about our work schedules... and the State Legislature is paying attention
"We get our schedule four days in advance, on Thursday night for the Monday following. Childcare is a huge issue. I have to scramble on Thursday night to make sure my children are taken care of." — Misty Brown, an Olive Garden worker in Olympia
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"Being a software tester in the video game industry is its own kind of augmented reality."
Making games has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I just never knew someone would take advantage of my passions. It’s incredibly rare to get a salaried position testing video games—something like one out of a thousand—so I felt like I had achieved a dream when I got that job. I never spoke up because I didn’t want to rock the boat. Those who did speak up were seen as venomous, and they were let go.
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"it wasn’t long before I was told I was being put on salary"
Then one day I realized that I was now working for less than minimum wage, in part because our salaries did not rise when minimum wages went up. There certainly was nothing prestigious about that kind of salaried work.
Read MoreAfter four decades of inaction, L&I releases "pre-draft" towards updated overtime rules
Restoring overtime rights could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of salaried workers, including front-line managers in food and retail; underpaid professionals in social work, research, and other fields; numerous office and clerical workers; more than a few journalists; and many others.
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