Introduction

Abstract

One of the ways workers can secure better conditions is through trade unions’ negotiation with employers. Unions for sex workers are limited to countries were the sex industry is legal and quite formal, and to employed sex workers. Usually sex business managers go to great lengths to avoid admitting an employer/employee relationship with sex workers. Trade unions have also been reluctant to allow sex workers to join them even when it is technically possible. Resistance to unionisation comes from sex business managers and others who have financial interests in sex workers remaining unorganised or who believe that prostitution should, or could, be abolished. Professional associations [i.e. pressure groups] are easier to form than unions. They may be open to a wider range of people and can be more flexible in their approach to problem solving. In some countries such associations have a stronger tradition than either unions or regulations which govern the workplace. Professional associations generally promote self-regulation. They do not usually have the capacity to enforce standards as a trade union might.