Table dancers join trade union

Table dancers and staff at a nude dancing club have signed up for union membership - thought to be the first time such workers have joined a mainstream trade union, the GMB said today.

The workers at Majingos in Canary Wharf joined Britain's general union after the London branch approved the club's code of conduct.

Customers who break Majingos's "no touching" rule can be ejected. The GMB said some other table-dancing clubs had outstanding health and safety issues which had been dealt with by Majingos.

Alan Whitehead, the club's general manager, invited GMB London to attend dancers' auditions to encourage workers to join the union. "It matters to me that my employees are in the union so that we can work out any problems between us fairly and properly," he said. "I will not allow exploitation in my club or for my people."

A GMB spokeswoman said the union had no problem with signing up employees from the industry. "They are proper main line workers so have rights to union representation."