The Dirt on Dat Dog – Workers Voice

By Max Wilde

In a city where 40% of the population earns just 7.5% of the total city-wide income, and women make just 67 cents for ever dollar a man makes, it’s easy to imagine that the food and hospitality industry is hell for working women–especially with bosses like John Besh. In October of last year, 25 women came forward with horror stories of the sexual harassment they faced while working at his New Orleans restaurants. Sadly, to many working class people in New Orleans, it wasn’t surprising that a dirtbag business owner would assault his employees and allow or encourage management to do the same.

One unsurprised worker is also a locally famous street performer named Qween Amore who has grown accustomed to harassment and discrimination on and off the clock. “As a trans person of color, I’ve come to realize that safety is a privilege, and in my experience, I am never truly safe” Qween told Workers Voice. Only last November, she was fired from Dat Dog on Frenchmen. The reason for the firing? “The last time I went to dance [in the Quarter] I was attacked by a brass band. They stole my equipment and proceeded to further assault me, so I ran into Dat Dog seeking protection. The cops were called, and I got arrested for disturbing the peace… A couple days later, Dat Dog decided to fire me because I ran inside and the brass band followed me in.”

According to The U.S. Transgender Survey, 77% of trans respondents who had a job in the past year took steps to avoid mistreatment in the workplace, such as hiding or delaying their gender transition or quitting their job, and 30% reported being fired, denied a promotion, or experiencing some other form of mistreatment related to their gender identity or expression.

Dat Do’,s management firing an employee for being the victim of transmisogynistic violence would be more shocking if they didn’t already have a history of gendered abuse. And in the very few cases where a manager stepped down or was let go for their behavior, new bosses are always willing and ready to take on the sexist mantle. It’s not ‘a few bad apples’ that make working in the hospitality and food industry so hard for so many women, but rather the oppressive position of bosses in the lives of workers and the role of men in the lives of women.

Workers Voice Socialist Movement

We are workers, employed and unemployed, youth, students, and seniors. We are multi-racial and multi-national and organize for the unity of the working class. We are funded by and for workers, for the liberation of all workers and oppressed people.

We organize for jobs and higher wages, against racism, women’s, and LGBTQ oppression, and for solidarity with immigrants. We organize for community schools, lower rents, and food on our tables. We organize for workers’ power so that everything will one day be removed from the capitalists’ private ownership.

We oppose the Pentagon, which is looting our tax dollars and handing them over to war-profiteering private companies, while social programs are gutted. We oppose war for empire which is pursued only to lower our wages and plunder the world’s resources while destroying the environment. We reject the monopoly media who feed us lie after lie.

The labor of workers produces enormous wealth here in Louisiana, the U.S. and the world– so much wealth that everyone could have housing, meaningful jobs, education, healthcare, and genuine equality. But this wealth is stolen and privately owned by the capitalist class for their greed and profit. We believe that we, the workers of the world, can unite in revolution to overcome capitalism and build a better world.

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