REAL YOU ELECTROLYSIS WORKERS UNITED
IWW IU 610 - ON STRIKE!

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We are a union recognized and endorsed by the IWW as representing the electrolysis clinicians at the Vancouver, WA office of Real You Electrolysis, located at 907 Harney St, Vancouver, WA.

CURRENT STATUS

On July 17th, the owners of Real You Electrolysis announced the company would be permanently closing on July 24th, due to bankruptcy. Our picketing activities will continue until the final day.This closure does not mean the end of our union, or our fight for justice. We are currently working on plans to launch a worker-owned electrolysis co-op, and to transform our union to an industry union within the IWW, so that we can help organize workers at other businesses engaging in gender-affirming care. Stay tuned for a bigger update!

WHY WE WENT ON STRIKE

On May 20th, 2026, we served the management of Real You Electrolysis a petition for voluntary recognition of our union, signed by 11 of the 15 non-management electrologists employed as of May 14th--the day we voted to unionize.In response to receiving our petition, management terminated our lead organizer. The remaining union members then notified management of our intention to walk out in formal protest, staggered to allow every clinician to finish their active treatment sessions as scheduled and complete all required post-treatment activities.Management then demanded the return of our office keys and notified us that all workers participating in the walkout were no longer welcome on the premises, thereby terminating our employment. We complied with their lawful demand to return company property (our keys) and continued with our walkout, clarifying that we were not resigning, but rather engaging in a protected union organizing action.We have been on strike ever since, in protest of this unlawful retaliatory termination against our protected efforts to organize a union.By July 24th, the final day of business, our strike will have lasted for 65 days.

OUR DEMANDS

We had agreed to cease our strike and return to work if management had agreed to the following demands. They chose to go bankrupt and leave hundreds of patients without care, rather than negotiate with us on any of these points:

TO PATIENTS of Real You Electrolysis

Closure and bankruptcy was NOT the outcome we at RYEWU wanted. Most of us were patients of Real You Electrolysis before we were employees, and lost our access to electrolysis when we were fired. We've experienced first-hand how impossible it can be just to find electrologists with room in their schedules, let alone electrologists who can accept insurance.Real You Electrolysis was simply the only option for many, and this closure means many will lose access to care until more providers go into business and/or expand the range of insurance plans they can bill. That means many people will be facing months of debilitating gender dysphoria, and many will have to reschedule surgeries they've been waiting YEARS for.We are heartbroken and furious that Anna and Leah chose this outcome by refusing to even attempt to negotiate with us.We DO plan to open a worker-owned cooperative electrolysis clinic, but it will take quite some time before we are funded, operational, and in position to accept insurance. We're working as fast as we can, especially now that our picketing activities are winding down, and we will be updating this space when we have news.

How to SUPPORT US