On May 2, 2026, electrologists at the Real You Electrolysis (RYE) clinic in Vancouver, Washington, formed a union that consists entirely of Transgender workers, under the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Real You Electrolysis Workers United (RYEWU) began the process after the clinic fired one of its best electrologists for what is claimed were unjust reasons, in addition to paychecks bouncing and further claims of worker exploitation. On May 20, a petition was served to the employer for voluntary recognition of the union. A few hours later, the RYEWU lead organizer was fired in retaliation, leading the remaining union members to stage a walkout in protest; they were also fired in retaliation. After that, they began picketing the business until the clinic's eventual permanent closure on July 24. This is the employees’ story.
Background
RYE was an electrolysis clinic co-owned by Anna Lantry and Leah LaFavor. The clinic catered to Trans people, offering electrolysis as gender-affirming care. It operated two locations in Washington: Vancouver and Lakewood.
“A Trans Lesbian and a cis Lesbian have done some really heinous things to exploit their community, while trying to elevate themselves as saviors of their community,” explained JackieMae, the lead organizer of RYEWU. “And I will do everything in my power to make sure they don’t get to make that claim, because they have ruined many people’s lives [by] what they’ve done.
JackieMae has been trying to unionize RYE since she first began working there in June 2025. Around March 2026, checks began bouncing, JackieMae said. According to JackieMae, she was behind a full pay period and didn’t have access to her bank account from April into most of May, because of bad checks that her bank flagged as fraudulent, leading to her account being shut down. JackieMae claimed that, on average, five people between both clinic locations claim that their checks bounced.
According to a timeline from the group's NLRB case against RYE around that time, RYE management began conducting room cleanliness inspections. JackieMae ran an employee-only Dungeons & Dragons campaign after work. During one of these sessions, one electrologist, Scarlet King, was written up for having a dirty cart and electrolysis machine in her room, but it was quickly rescinded when King was able to confirm that the cart was not hers. Everyone at the table was alarmed, with the notable exception of Zarek Lee, the director of operations at RYE.
A month later, King was fired. Five days later, JackieMae brought up King’s termination at the employee D&D table; in attendance were electrologists Deja Yerger, Raine Erickson, Gwen Dziamba, and manager-in-training Natasha Kitchen. Apparently, none present, save for JackieMae, were aware of King’s firing. They quickly grew worried, noting that King was the best electrologist and so all their jobs could be at risk.
King was fired for job abandonment after finishing her work for the day and leaving two hours early; however, JackieMae claims this reason was spurious, as she was technically on a leave of absence as part of an unpaid, on-site electrolysis certification training program.
Union formation
JackieMae suggested taking immediate action to form a union, citing Lantry’s inconsistent and prejudicially applied disciplinary policy and disregard for employee well-being. Everyone agreed to begin the process of unionizing except for Kitchen, as she was promoted to management and couldn’t help in any way.
JackieMae, along with her partner Vaerae “Vae” Reese, met with an IWW representative to discuss the process. On May 2, 11 employees left work at the end of their shift to attend the first RYEWU meeting.
JackieMae recounted Lee trying to stop people on their way out; at one point, fellow electrologist Una Ross recalled being hindered by Lee. It took JackieMae and a couple of other workers doubling back to the clinic to get Ross out.
In the end, they made it to the meeting, where everyone voted in favor of forming a union and scheduling another meeting, at which they were joined by a representative from the Portland IWW and another from ILWU Local 5. A majority voted to seek the ILWU endorsement, due to its greater legal resources, despite having a longer onboarding process.
A few days later, Tara Culver was fired from RYE after a series of announced room inspections the day prior, with none of the electrologists present deeming Culver’s room to be in unacceptable condition. In response, JackieMae, Yerger, and other RYEWU members confronted Lee, Lantry, and LaFavor about bother Culver’s and King’s firings, demanding they be reinstated, to which Lantry and LaFavor asserted that their decision was final.
Later that night, JackieMae and Yerger held an emergency vote on seeking the endorsement of IWW instead, which has an immediate onboarding process with fewer barriers, given the urgency of the situation. The vote passed, and members of the union agreed that those still employed at RYE and attending training at the Vancouver facility should sign a petition and serve it to management as soon as possible.
A couple of days later, on May 20, at 11:48 p.m., after acquiring all the necessary signatures, a group of workers led by JackieMae presented the petition to Lee. At 2:43 p.m., LaFavor and Kitchen met with JackieMae in her treatment room to inform her that her employment was terminated, and they escorted her off the premises.
After learning of the lead organizer's termination, the rest of the union members congregated in the reception area and informed LaFavor that they were staging a walkout in retaliation. LaFavor told the group that any employee who walked out would be terminated immediately, even though it was a protected union activity under the National Labor Relations Act.
For the next 64 days, they picketed outside the location with support from the IWW. In addition, the union filed a 502 RC Petition and an unfair labor practice charge against the employer.
Financial aspects
Before working with RYE, electrologists are expected to sign a contract, which included pay for electrologist certification, under the condition that a promissory agreement was signed for the amount (some electrologists say it was $19,000 and others $30,000. It should be noted that RYE operates in Washington, which does not require certification to practice electrolysis.
Employees were not expected to make payment but instead maintain employment for four years after the certification is complete, or else they are expected to pay back the full amount. JackieMae described the terms for the repayment as including $500 late fees, royalties in perpetuity, and a prepayment penalty up to four times the amount of the loan for paying the full amount early. Yerger described it as a bounty on firing people, asking them to pay money they don’t have, pointing out that most of the people who worked there came from backgrounds characterized by financial insecurity.
Yerger explained that Trans people have an ongoing need for gender-affirming healthcare, which is often tied to one’s workplace benefits, thus allowing employers to hold financial dependency over one’s head, since a majority of Trans people come experience financial insecurity. “We are in some of the worst danger of any class of citizens in this country,” Yerger said.
JackieMae added that management at RYE screened them for financial insecurity in the hiring process, by asking candidates what they made in past jobs, which is illegal under Washington's Equal Pay and Opportunities Act.
Many who signed these contracts criticized them for being highly predatory toward the Trans community. JackieMae recounted that Lantry said at a company barbecue on July, 4, 2025, to her and a group of other employees, “You give a Trans woman a decent wage, health insurance, and a modicum of respect, and she will walk through hell for you.” JackieMae also Lantry’s character as a self-described capitalist: “Her stated goal is ‘I want to be a billionaire.’ The only way you get to be a billionaire is if you are exploiting people to death, and the way she decided she wanted to do that was on the backs of her own community.”
Results
The picketing and the media attention surrounding the union efforts created a massive public outcry, causing many of the clients at RYE to cancel their appointments and boycott the business, causing the clinic’s income stream to vanish overnight. This had a lasting adverse effect. On July 17, 2026, RYE announced that it would permanently close both the Vancouver and Lakewood locations.
While this isn’t the outcome RYEWU wanted, there is a contingency plan: it is now planning to develop a worker-owned cooperative electrolysis clinic in a joint effort between Vancouver and Lakewood employees and switch from a shop-union to an industry-union within the IWW.
“We are in the beginning stages of working with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center,” Yerger explained. “We’ve got the business plan coming together. We are maybe a few weeks away from getting ready to identify our funding and submit loan applications.”
Former employees are still struggling, though many who are eligible for unemployment have achieved it, save for King; JackieMae alleges that Lantry is actively interfering in her ability to qualify by falsely claiming she was fired for job abandonment and the spurious writeups. Some employees were not able to qualify for unemployment and are struggling to find jobs. “We’re pulling together to help each other out as much as we can,” said Yerger. While details cannot be disclosed, they are taking legal action against their former employers.
It should be noted that since the closure, LaFavor has gone on to start a new electrolysis venture, called Mountain Meadows Electrolysis. According to former RYE patients, she has been reaching out to members of the Trans community, organizers, and activists, trying to advertise her business. RYEWU is trying to make it known that this person has a history of union-busting and doing harm to several members of the Trans community.
“Human rights are Trans rights — we know that — but also workers’ rights are trans rights,” said JackieMae. “It’s crucial for Trans people, because we don’t get the same workers’ rights as everyone else does. Trans women make less than Trans men [and] cis women, and for Trans women of color, it is worse. [By unionizing], together we are stronger — that is the bare minimum of it. The only way we survive what is happening around us is community and being together.”
Yerger added, “Now is the time to band together and organize to protect ourselves.”
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