Strippers have called out MPs who use sex workers and then turn a blind eye to "wage theft", "widespread labour exploitation", and "labour trafficking".
Members of the Fired Up Stilettos group are protesting outside Parliament against their working conditions and hope to see changes made to laws surrounding contract workers.
The protest comes after Wellington strip club Calendar Girls hit the headlines earlier this year when it fired 19 women who had asked for better pay and conditions.
One stripper Molly, who's an organiser with Fired Up Stilettos, spoke to the crowd on Sunday and said while this movement is about "labour rights for strippers", it also goes deeper than that.
"This is about safety, it is about dignity, it is about race and gender, it is about fundamental human rights of those who work in the adult entertainment industry," she said.
"It is about contractors and the lack of protections that all contractors in our country suffer from. It is about stigma and discrimination and the pervasive impact those things have on the lives of people in this country.
"It is about breaking the cycle of abuse our managers have relied on to make profits. It is about recognising that many industries in our country rely on the exploitation of women and gender minorities."
Another stripper Lolly, who said she was part of the group fired from Calendar Girls in Wellington, said it's hoped this movement will help a number of sectors in New Zealand.
"We must look beyond our industry and find our fellow contractors in every sector," she told the crowd.
"Our hope is that if strippers manage to get legislative change that upholds the contractors' status while ensuring venues treat us with dignity and professionalism … that perhaps other industries suffering from a lack of contractor protections will be able to make changes too."
A third stripper named Melody, who was also fired from Calendar Girls, dedicated her speech to MPs.
"Sex workers are keepers of a menagerie of secrets. We value discretion - so we don't name names - but we know just how many members of this Parliament and other government officials from across the political spectrum frequent our establishments. And I'm certain that you all have a hunch too," she said.
"So, dear MPs, to know your colleagues are accessing our services and then to turn around and act as if this has nothing to do with you is both wildly hypocritical and deeply irresponsible."
Green Party MP Jan Logie also spoke at the event and said she felt "proud and privileged" to stand alongside the crowd and join their fight.
"It's my absolute belief that as politicians, it's our job that when we are confronted with these stories of exploitation and abuse that we need to listen and we need to work with those people who know the industry to stop the exploitation, to stop the abuse," she said.
"There is a law change that is needed. So it's my job now, in terms of my place in Parliament, to help create the possibility of that law change."
Logie said while there has been some work done looking at laws for contractors that "enable exploitation", it's been stalled and hasn't been prioritised.
"We need to get them to reprioritise that work."
Logie told Newshub Nation last month New Zealand needs to continue this conversation, "hopefully right across the sex industry to work out the legislative solution".
"I really want the minister to recognise this is urgent and really important," Logie said.
"People are just trying to pay their bills and they shouldn't be made to feel unsafe."
An Auckland dancer revealed to Stuff that ShowGirls, who she worked for, had taken $50 to $100 each shift she worked as bond money in case they were to fine her, totalling $550 when she left.
But when the dancer contacted the club to get her bond back, she was first told it had been erased from the system, or it had been paid to her, and then it had been forfeited because she didn't give notice before leaving.
But the dancer argued that, telling Stuff: "I said my last day in an email and it was in my contract."
Members of the Fired Up Stilettos group call it "wage theft". Their protest outside Parliament is calling for change to other work conditions imposed by management they described as abusive and exploitative.
A petition on the New Zealand Parliament website that has gained 3266 signatures at the time of writing is calling for an established right of adult entertainment workers to bargain collectively while maintaining independent contractor status; outlaw all fines and bonds between employers and contractors; and establish a nationwide mandatory maximum of 20 percent that an employer can take from a contractor's profits.
The reason for the petition is that contractors in adult entertainment are facing widespread labour exploitation.
It's "not due to the adult nature of our work, but because of the lack of legal protections offered to workers who are not employees and because we depend on a venue".
"We have experienced a culture of bullying, income theft, violations of contract law, and sometimes outright labour trafficking. We want nationwide intervention to stop these exploitative practices," the petition said.
Newshub has contacted Show Girls and Calendar Girls.
