Real You Electrolysis Workers United: A Unionization Speedrun

Summary

Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here Episode: Real You Electrolysis Workers United: A Unionization Speedrun
Date: May 27, 2026
Host: Mia Wong (Cool Zone Media)
Guests: Jackie Mae & Deja Indigo (Real You Electrolysis Workers United)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores a blisteringly fast and impactful unionization and strike campaign at Real You Electrolysis in Vancouver, Washington — a rare, trans-majority workplace specializing in gender-affirming hair removal care. Host Mia Wong interviews organizers Jackie Mae and Deja Indigo about the workplace’s unique context, the exploitative “loan” scheme tying workers to the business, a wave of retaliatory firings, the solidarity behind a near-total strike, and the ongoing picket for union recognition and justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Is Electrolysis & Its Role in Gender-Affirming Care (05:09–08:42)

• Electrolysis is the only FDA-approved permanent hair removal method; widely used for gender-affirming procedures.
• “It is commonly used in gender affirming care, and that is one of the, if not the specialty of Real You Electrolysis.” — Deja Indigo (05:28)
• The workforce and the majority of clients are trans, often traveling from hours away, as trans-competent care is rare.

2. Unique Trans-Majority Staff & Patient Population (08:42–10:19)

• Real You Electrolysis stands out for having a mostly trans staff serving mostly trans clients — a tight community context.
• “It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to work with other trans people for gender affirming care for our community…” — Jackie Mae (09:33)
• Geography: Vancouver, WA, just across the river/state line from Portland, OR (critical later for regulatory reasons).

3. The Spark: Union Beginnings & Initial Organizing (10:42–16:37)

• Jackie Mae, with a lifelong dream of unionizing, initiated “light talks” about a union as soon as she started in June 2025.
• “It first started because they hired me, Mia. … Ever since I was a little girl, I have been enchanted with the idea of a workers union and people working together...” — Jackie Mae (10:42)
• The firing of a well-liked colleague under suspicious circumstances catalyzed serious organizing.

4. The "Indentured Servitude" Loan Scheme (17:03–24:36)

• Most hires are unlicensed; Real You covers the cost (~$21,000) of required certification but ties this to a draconian four-year work contract.
• If fired or if an employee resigns before the four years, they owe the full amount immediately.
• “As soon as you enter schooling … every single person who has been hired by Real You Electrolysis could not start working without signing a contract agreeing to sign this promissory note…” — Deja Indigo (18:48)
• This structure leaves workers perpetually under threat and is exploited for retaliation.
• “Yeah, it’s cartoonishly evil.” — Jackie Mae (19:56)

5. Retaliatory Firings & Escalation (28:06–46:45)

• Two major union meetings were held (May 2nd and May 14th).
• Management and their spouses begin poking for union info amongst staff, a classic “gray area” intimidation tactic.
• Another union member fired May 18th; group confronts management, is stonewalled with, “I can’t make unilateral decisions.” — Mia: “Is the most absolutely chicken shit response I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” (41:22)
• The closeness of the staff: coworkers are also often each other's patients and, sometimes, housemates or partners, amplifying every firing’s impact.

6. Bounced Paychecks & Fabricated Write-Ups (49:01–56:27)

• Management repeatedly issues paper checks after years of direct deposit; these checks bounce, leaving employees in financial peril.
• “My check bounced a second time. I currently don’t have access to a bank account because my bank has labeled what has happened fraudulent activity.” — Jackie Mae (50:30)
• “The write up is from May 4th. It essentially is a write up that says, Jackie, you were rude to management. … My check bounced.” — Jackie Mae (53:14)
• Sudden, dubious write-ups emerge as pretext for further firings right after union activities go public.

7. The Walkout & Strike – Unionization “Speedrun” (60:37–68:45)

• Jackie Mae is fired at 2:51pm for the “three write-ups”; by 4:01pm, the union has organized a legally protected walkout.
• Staff meticulously ensure all patient care is completed before walking out.
• Management openly tells strikers to immediately surrender their keys, escalating the conflict (potentially illegal retaliation).
• “We are staging a formal walkout in protest of the wrongful termination of Jackie May. … This is a legally protected action under the NLRA.” — Deja Indigo (63:04)
• IWW representatives arrive to assist; the majority of clinicians are now on strike.

8. The Picket & Community Solidarity (68:45–81:39)

• The strike has continued daily, with sustained pickets and unwavering solidarity.
• “Not a single person who started this with us has switched sides or dropped out. … Our patients are still the most important thing.” — Deja Indigo (69:20)
• Patients are not prevented from entering (“every patient crosses the line with our complete blessing”); organizers are facilitating referrals to ensure continuity of care.
• The union’s demands: reinstatement, expungement of write-ups, repayment of lost wages, end to loan collections, voluntary union recognition, and bargaining.
• Management has responded to the strike with near-total silence except for one mass email making false claims — “This conversation is still over” (77:01).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you pay a trans woman $30 an hour and you give her health insurance and a little bit of respect, she will march through a brick wall for you.”
  — Anna Landry, president, quoted by employees on management’s exploitative assumptions (73:03)

• “You have sown the wind and you are now reaping the whirlwind. … If you decide to fuck over a bunch of trans women, like, we will fight for each other.” — Mia Wong (73:41)

• “We are sticking together.” — Jackie Mae (72:17)

• “Nobody organizes quite as well as a bad boss.” — Deja Indigo (31:40)

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Timeline of Key Events

| Time | Event | Quote/Comment | |------|-------|---------------| | [03:07–05:09] | Introduction, explaining what electrolysis is | "Electrolysis is the only FDA recognized method of permanent hair removal..." — Deja Indigo | | [10:42] | Organizing began when Jackie Mae started | "It first started because they hired me. ... Ever since I was a little girl, I have been enchanted with the idea of a workers union..." | | [13:00] | Suspicious firing triggers deep organizing | "Light talks have been going on... Someone who was already in talks with us, was fired. ... The vibes were off." | | [18:48] | Explanation of the $21,000 ‘loan’ contract | "As soon as you enter schooling, ... every single person ... could not start working without signing a contract..." | | [28:41] | Two union meetings: May 2 & May 14 | "We basically gathered every clinician who we believed we could trust..." — Deja Indigo | | [29:31] | First meeting: 8-10 clinicians, near unanimity | "We voted unanimously to form a union..." | | [41:44] | Second firing; group confrontation of management | "This is not a resignation. ... Both of these things are acceptable reasons for leaving your shift." — Deja Indigo | | [49:02–54:03] | Retroactive write-ups, bounced paychecks | "My check bounced once...my bank has labeled what has happened fraudulent activity." — Jackie Mae | | [60:37] | Jackie Mae fired, rest of union strikes same day | "If we’re going to do something about this, we need to do something about this now." — Jackie Mae | | [63:04] | “We are staging a formal walkout in protest…” | — Deja Indigo | | [68:45] | Picketers continue; patients supported | "Every patient ... crosses the line with our complete blessing." — Deja Indigo |

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How To Support & Contact

• Union Email: [e-mail]
  (until further web presence is launched; see show notes for updates)
• Show up to the picket:
  907 Harney Street, Vancouver, WA (mouth of the parking lot)
• Trans-affirming electrolysis providers: email above to help serve displaced patients
• Strike fund/support: Reach out to IWW Portland

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Conclusion & Final Takeaways

• Real You Electrolysis Workers United have executed an unprecedentedly fast workplace organizing campaign, demonstrating extraordinary solidarity against exploitative management.
• The fight is ongoing, but remains patient-focused and deeply rooted in community values.
• Listeners are reminded that unionization and effective solidarity are possible for ordinary people, even in the face of daunting odds and retaliation.

“...when we work together, when we organize together, when we fight, we can fucking win.”
— Mia Wong (83:20)

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For latest updates, strike fund, and picket info, check episode show notes or contact the union via email. Solidarity with Real You Electrolysis Workers United!

Transcript

[Mia Wong]

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.

[Jana Kramer]

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[Mia Wong]

coal Zone Media welcome to It Could Happen Here, a podcast about going on strike and hopefully winning. I am your host, Mia Wong. There's a concept in union organizing called a hot shop, which is a shop where everything is moving really, really quickly and people are organizing really quickly and bad stuff is happening really quickly and people are reacting really quickly. And today we are going to talk to maybe the hottest shop I have ever encountered. So to discuss the shop, I am talking to Jackie Mae and Deja Indigo, who are members and organizers of Real youl Electrolysis Workers United. Both of you two, welcome to the show.

[Jackie Mae]

Hi.

[Deja Indigo]

Thank you.

[Jackie Mae]

Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us on such short notice. You said hot shop and. Yeah, it's been a week.

[Deja Indigo]

Very hot week indeed.

[Mia Wong]

I had heard this was going on and it was, there's an attempt to go public. The next thing I heard was like the next day and there was a strike. And I was like, oh my God, this is wild.

[Deja Indigo]

So, yeah, not even a week ago.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, it will be, I think by the time you're listening to this, it will be one week. Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. Okay. That's fair.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. I want to mention this is being recorded on Monday, May 25th. This situation is moving very quickly. There is a chance that things have changed by then. We will try to get an update in if something really major has happened. But let's roll this back to the beginning. And I think the place I want to start is so you all are. It's real, you Electrolysis Workers United. So you are electrolysis workers. I know this audience specifically of It Could Happen Here has a significantly higher chance of the general population to know what Electrolysis is. But can you explain for people who don't know or only kind of familiar what electrolysis is?

[Deja Indigo]

Of course. Electrolysis is the only FDA recognized method of permanent hair removal. It is a technique that dates back a surprisingly long time where we insert a filament about the size of a hair into individual hair follicles, and with the use of electricity to generate either heat or lye, we basically kill each hair follicle at its root. And that hair, if all goes according to plan, will not come back. It is commonly used in gender affirming care, and that is one of the, if not the specialty of real EU electrolysis.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And can you talk a bit about this in a gender affirming care context?

[Deja Indigo]

Of course. You know, if you are a transgender person and you are undergoing medical transition, there is a variety of reasons you might want to have hair permanently removed, either in preparation for surgery, both in terms of a trans feminine or trans masculine surgical context. You will need hair permanently removed from some parts of your body that will be involved in that. You also may want to have facial hair or body hair permanently removed. Again, this applies to both trans feminine, trans masculine, and people anywhere else on the transgender spectrum. Because, you know, not everybody wants to have body hair.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Or facial hair.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And this is something that, I mean, I can personally say you can get a lot of dysphoria from body hair. It can be real bad.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh yeah, it can.

[Mia Wong]

And not having it is such a huge difference.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes.

[Mia Wong]

And I guess a thing that I should say. So my understanding of electrolysis, I have not done electrolysis. I have a lot of friends who have. But the thing about electrolysis versus, like, you know, shaving or something is that once you hit a hair follicle, it's gone. And theoretically, after you're done with, you know, like a bunch of the sessions, you just don't have hair growing there anymore.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes.

[Deja Indigo]

Correct. And also I should note that it is also covered by most health insurance that does cover gender affirming care. I know we all have kind of mixed feelings about the WPATH standards, but it is considered the standard of care for hair removal under the W path. So, you know, a significant proportion of the patients at the Real U electrolysis clinic are using insurance to pay for their care. Uh huh.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Which is really cool. Not all trans healthcare is that expensive, but electrolysis is not the most cheap thing. If you are paying out of pocket.

[Deja Indigo]

And.

[Jackie Mae]

And it's really long.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, it's usually out of pocket. Is somewhere between 120 to 240 dollars an hour, depending on your provider.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

And these are weekly sessions, usually at least an hour. Sometimes it can be less for those who have difficulty tolerating it. Some people go for even more. Like some patients may elect to get like six hours of it done. But again, this is a lot of, of out of pocket costs, especially when it generally takes anywhere from a year and a half to three years to fully clear an area. So this is why it's so important to have this covered by insurance, because it really adds up quickly.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And I think this is also gets into what's important about this shop, which is that this is one of the few electrolysis places I've ever encountered where huge portions of the staff are trans.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes.

[Mia Wong]

And yeah, can you talk a bit about what, what that's been like doing, you know, like doing this kind of gender affirming care on other trans people who normally could say this in the medical setting. I can count on one finger the number of trans healthcare providers. I mean, I guess if you count pharmacists, I can add like a second finger my entire life. And I'm extremely lucky that I've even gotten one trans healthcare provider who is trans.

[Jackie Mae]

Well, it's an honor and a privilege to be able to work with other trans people for gender affirming care for our community because we don't just serve the Vancouver area, we also serve the PDX area.

[Deja Indigo]

And further, we have patients that commute from hours and hours away.

[Jackie Mae]

That is true.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. For people who don't know a little bit of geography stuff that will become important later. So this is Vancouver, Washington, which is just like right across a river from Portland. This amazingly, the fact that technically speaking, this river is like the state border will become important in a little bit.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes, yes indeed.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes it will.

[Mia Wong]

Oh boy. Yeah. So I'm going to ask all of you to put a little pin in city that is technically across the state border from another city, but is like you just drive over a bridge and you're there. Let's go talk about some strike shit. Okay, so I guess to start, can we talk about how organizing kind of first started at Rio Lecholsis?

[Jackie Mae]

Yes, it first started because they hired me, Mia. They hired me. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been enchanted with the idea of a workers union and people working together to make their conditions better. It is something that I have had to learn and practice on my own because I didn't know about the iww. Yeah, it's a Thing that I was trying to do before I moved out here. And then this opportunity just drops into my lap and it's queer people and we're working on queer people. I've got goosebumps. It's not because I'm cold and. And how could I, in good conscious, just like, let that opportunity go?

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Jackie May is very much the motive force behind us getting our shit together and unionizing. I remember from the time that I started, Jackie Mae was talking about having a goal to unionize the shop. We weren't expecting it to be on such a quick timeline, but I was really excited to have somebody else who was into doing this because I've always been a hardcore leftist and an extreme socialist communist. I don't know, whatever label you want to put on me. Workers rights. Like we should own the means of production and we should be the ones receiving all of the benefits from it.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

But Jackie Mae has just been like ready to go. But we, we could also talk about like the actual start to. Like what. Okay, what did we actually start doing things to this direction. Do you want to take that, Jackie Mae?

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. So like light talks have been going on since I got there back in actually June of last year. It's always just been real light, real surface level. As in, hey, do you support a union? Would you like to consider being in one one day? And then I go about my day, like, converse, like that's as far as the conversation goes. Because that's all the information I need at that point.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

So I knew who in the building was. Yes. And last month, one of our members, someone who was already in talks with us, was fired. And the circumstances around that person being fired, the vibes were off. Right. Like the previous week there was a dirty cart that just happened to appear in her room. That would be worth the write up to get her fired, huh? That cart couldn't have been hers because before she started school, she moved that cart to another. To her substitute clinician's room. Like could. Could not be what management said it was.

[Mia Wong]

So it looks like something that was fabricated.

[Deja Indigo]

To clarify this, this union member, this co worker, was going on a leave of absence to attend a certification training program. So that is why she had a substitute clinician taking over her equipment. I should also add that this was the first time they have ever done room inspections on site.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

In fact, the only. They've only done room inspections twice and both times resulted in a termination.

[Mia Wong]

Well, that. That's not suspicious at all.

[Deja Indigo]

Anyway, sorry, Jackie Mae, please continue no worries.

[Jackie Mae]

It's okay. We're. Listen, we're allowed to rabbit trail, but we come back to. So our friend was fired. Right. It's super duper suspicious.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

And I saw an opportunity and I took that opportunity to talk to people about it. And for like a few days after this had happened, nobody knew where she was at. Nobody knew what happened.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

So the, the narrative was entirely up to me and just going, this is what they did. And, and we all know this. We all know this person. We've worked alongside this person. We all recognize her sk. And how intelligent she is. She's going to go on to teach this stuff.

[Deja Indigo]

It's. It's true.

[Jackie Mae]

And it made all of us scared that one of our best could just be removed like that.

[Deja Indigo]

Bingo.

[Mia Wong]

This is my understanding this is a pretty small shop, right? Like you, everyone knows everyone else.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. Like maybe, maybe 15 or 16 practicing clinicians at a given time.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, thereabouts. Which, yeah, I guess makes it more scary when it's someone you know and you're close to just. Is just suddenly fired.

[Deja Indigo]

And I should note that most of us who have worked there are also patients there. So like a lot of these, A lot of our co workers are not just co workers, they're also practitioners that provide gender affirming care to us.

[Jackie Mae]

Yep.

[Deja Indigo]

So we don't just have like a superficial sense of the clinical skill of these people. We have direct experience.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

And that makes it just that much more devastating when it's somebody you know is extremely good at their job is just suddenly gone under very suspicious circumstances.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, it's devastating. So this gets into one of the truly wildest and most distressing parts of this entire story, which is. Can. Can you talk about the. I guess I would just call it. The most neutral thing I can call it is the loan.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes, absolutely. So remember when we kind of put a pin in the fact that Vancouver, Washington is right across the river from Portland, Oregon? So there is a big difference between how the state of Washington and how the state of Oregon regulates the practice of electrolysis. In the state of Oregon, you cannot practice electrolysis without first going through a certification program and passing a certification exam to become certified in the state of Washington. As long as you are practicing under the authority of somebody who has been certified in another state, you can practice electrolysis without certification. In fact, the state of Washington does not currently have their own certification framework for electrolysis. So those of us who work at Real U Electrolysis were all hired without prior certification. I think There may be one or two exclusive exceptions over the years, but by and large, the overwhelming majority are people who have no prior experience performing electrolysis. So Real you Electrolysis does have certified electrologists on staff who are responsible for the training of new hires. One of the conditions of employment at Real U Electrolysis is to agree to sign a promissory note wherein Real U Electrolysis will basically provide a stipend and pay for all expenses related to receiving certification from a certification program in exchange for four years of work at Real U Electrolysis. Those who sign this note are not required to directly pay back any money unless they either fail to complete their schooling, fail to pass their certification, resign their position within four years, or are terminated. And at that point they are immediately liable to repay the full amount of the promissory note. So essentially, as soon as you enter schooling, and again, this is a condition of employment, every single person who has been hired by Real U Electrolysis could not start working without signing a contract agreeing to sign this promissory note when it comes time to be sent to school.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, and can you, can you talk about, like, how much money is it that you have to pay back if you either get fired or leave?

[Deja Indigo]

At least $21,000 in this case.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ. Like, oh my God.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah, it's cartoonishly evil.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

I should clarify as well that most of us who are hired are not coming into this job from a place of financial privilege. Most of us had some manner of skepticism over this contract, but because the opportunity just seemed so great and because we had not heard any history of, you know, any sort of bad faith actions from management, I think we all just kind of decided, well, I get to work with a bunch of cool trans people on a bunch of cool trans people for decent pay and benefits, and they probably won't just fire me once I sign this loan. Like, that wouldn't be cool. And so where this really comes into play is that the union member, the co worker who was fired, as I mentioned before, was on a leave of absence to be in school. And basically she was fired. And immediately they demanded repayment in full of this loan. So not only did she lose her job over extremely spurious circumstances, she now was on the hook for $21,000, like immediately. Like, I think the deadline they gave her is in like two days.

[Jackie Mae]

So I want to add something to all of that. Yeah, they had her sign that loan knowing that she had two write ups on the books and that her next write up within those four years would lead to termination. They Knew that they have that on file.

[Deja Indigo]

They admitted that to our faces. We had a group of witnesses who can attest to this because we did all confront them. That's jumping a little bit further ahead in the story.

[Jackie Mae]

We'll get there.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, I just. I want to stay here for a second to just sort of just walk through how unbelievably unhinged this is, which is that. Yeah. So the condition of working here is that you have to sign, like, what is effectively an indentured servitude contract. Like, it's like, okay, you. You have to work here for like four years, and if we ever decide to fire you, you can't leave. And if you ever decide to fire you, you just owe $21,000, which just on the face of it is such an unbelievably exploitative situation because, yeah, this is a bunch of queer and trans people. Like, no, no fucking trans person has $21,000. Like, that's just not a thing. Like, yeah, certainly none of us, like, what are we doing here? Like,

[Jackie Mae]

taking advantage of the trans community.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And then you have that just as the baseline condition of just everyone has just the doom of Damocles hanging over their head. And then also, you know, like what you were describing, where, okay, you get someone to sign the contract knowing that you can get rid of them after one more infraction. That's such an incredible incentive to like, mistreat and fire people. Because if you fire someone, you can just collect, like, try to collect like $21,000 from them.

[Jackie Mae]

Financially ruin somebody, financially destroy somebody, render them homeless even.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, it's what we call a perverse incentive. Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

You can just reduce someone effectively into a debt peon. And usually that kind of threat is abstract. This is how we are incentivized to work and to stay in line. If you lose your job, then you're going to like, drown in all of the things you need to do to survive. But no, here it's just. Yeah, you're now $21,000 in debt to this company that just fired you.

[Deja Indigo]

Yep. And again, that is due and payable immediately. That the way the contract is worded does not stipulate any sort of repayment period. Now, we have attestations from previous employees who have been fired under this contract and been released from it. So we do know that the owners of Real U Electrolysis will selectively choose to release terminated employees from their contract, however, they have elected not to do that. In the case of this union member, this co worker who was fired last month.

[Jackie Mae]

Correct.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. So that also just. That also looks like retaliation.

[Deja Indigo]

Your words.

[Mia Wong]

Like sort of deliberately your words. Yeah, you know, it doesn't look good. There aren't good answers as to why you would do that in this situation and not in others.

[Jackie Mae]

The story gets more fun too.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

We're just getting started.

[Mia Wong]

Before all of this gets even more unhinged, we need to go to, I don't know, maybe a source of hingedness and security. I mean, if that's true, I hope better things happen in your lives. But we're throwing to the products and services that support this podcast.

[Jana Kramer]

This is Jana Kramer from Wind down with Jana Kramer. So why do they call it a dishwasher? Well, don't worry, it's not a trick question or anything. It's just because it washes dishes. If the filter and the dishwasher itself are dirty, those dishes aren't actually getting clean. That's why you need Cascade Platinum Plus. Powered by two times the cleaning power of Dawn, Cascade Platinum plus doesn't just remove 100% of grease and residue from dishes. It cleans your dishwasher and filter too. So you get clean dishes and a dishwasher that keeps washing. Just scrape, load and done. Find Cascade Platinum plus at your local retailer. Cascade is a proud sponsor of the Elton John Impact Awards, honoring those who have helped shape a more inclusive and compassionate world with their artistry, advocacy and unwavering commitment to equality. Cascade would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of this year's deserving honorees. Don't miss the Elton John Impact Awards podcast available on June 1st on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.

[Public Investing Representative]

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[Mia Wong]

We are back. Let's continue with this story here and get to I guess the next set of firings because this just keeps escalating.

[Jackie Mae]

So before we actually get to the next set of firings, we, we would have our first and Deja correct me if I'm wrong, our second meeting.

[Deja Indigo]

You are correct.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. We would have our first and second

[Deja Indigo]

meeting before the next firing, May 2nd and May 14th.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes. So that next firing would take place

[Deja Indigo]

on Monday, May 18th.

[Jackie Mae]

That was Monday, May 18th.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. So like one week ago from when this is getting recorded. Which bear that in mind as the rest of the story plays out. Because the timeline here is so condensed that like it's like all of the shit that happens with like a bad union busting campaign condensed into the span of like three days.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes, we are, we are speed running bad boss versus union workers story.

[Mia Wong]

Like this is like one of the fastest escalations ever seen. Before we get to this Monday, let's talk about what happened at those two meetings because this is genuinely such an impressive pace of like how fast all of this got organized.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. So the first meeting May 2, we basically gathered every clinician who we believed we could trust who was not either a manager in training or or did not have direct ties to management and also who was on site because there were some people that we would have loved to have talked to who were off site attending a certification program at another location. So we gathered up everyone we could that started with about eight of us and grew to 10 as the night wore on. We talked about the circumstances around the firing of that coworker who was in school. We all talked about our options for how do we proceed. We voted unanimously to form a union and to do so under the auspices of the Industrial Workers of the World, thanks in part to Jackie Mae having contact with them and having gotten a bit of a lowdown on, like, what our options looked like.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

So that was the TLDR of the first meeting.

[Mia Wong]

10 people. That's like 2/3 of the shop. Of the total people. Yes.

[Deja Indigo]

Of the people who were active practicing clinicians there, I think we were only missing a couple.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

Which is really impressive.

[Jackie Mae]

I wish we could have got them.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, we definitely wish we could have gotten to everybody or had been clearer on who was actually not management.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. That's also a thing that management, well, play a lot of games with who is and isn't union eligible. I just want to, like, stop for a second and be like getting like 2/3 or more of a shop to show up to the first meeting and vote to form a union is like, that might be the fastest I've ever seen this happen. It's like when you do this in one meeting, like, yeah, speed. Read the entire organizing process. Like one meeting. Like, unbelievable.

[Jackie Mae]

Can we put this on GameStop quick too?

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, like, I, I maybe, I don't know, we could submit it for a world record with new world record category.

[Deja Indigo]

Any percent unanimous, as they say. Nobody organizes quite as well as a bad boss.

[Mia Wong]

That's true. Well, it's, it's you, you, you have. Yeah, you have. You, you have the double benefit of bad boss firing people. And also, like, it's a bunch of queer and trans people, which is like, yes. Ideal conditions for organizing.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes. So that meeting, that was May 2nd. The next meeting took place on May 14th. Now, Jackie Mae, do you want to talk a little bit before we talk about this meeting, about some of the things that happened in between the two meetings, like certain actions by management and people who are manager adjacent.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, right, right. Yeah. So our tools in laundry sterilization tech, maybe specialist. I'm not quite sure on the word for it. Salem is married to our director of operations, Zarek Lee.

[Mia Wong]

That's, that's, that's. Oh, boy.

[Jackie Mae]

But wait, there's more.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, no.

[Jackie Mae]

Salem actually approached at least one of our, one of our union members to ask directly if we were forming a union.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Which, by the way, you're not allowed to do. You're not supposed to do that, but, you know, that's. Yeah. Great. Incredible stuff.

[Jackie Mae]

It's a lovely gray area because Elam isn't management, but technically isn't.

[Mia Wong]

Management is simply married to.

[Deja Indigo]

Married to management.

[Mia Wong]

Yes, Technically. Technically legal, but, like, management's really, really not supposed to be doing that.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

I think it also bears clarifying at this point that Zarek Lee, Director of Operations and effectively the HR department of Radio Electrolysis, has absolutely heard Jackie Mae express positive union sentiment.

[Jackie Mae]

I forgot about that.

[Deja Indigo]

This goes back to summer of 2025. Like, there have been multiple instances where people in management have directly heard Jackie Mae talking about being pro union. Granted, Jackie Mae has always been properly elliptical about it. In the presence of management.

[Jackie Mae]

God, it's hard, but.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, but the suspicion was clearly established long ago.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah, that is true. That is true.

[Deja Indigo]

This will be important.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, boy.

[Mia Wong]

Foreshadowing is a literary technique.

[Deja Indigo]

So to continue during these two weeks in between meetings, thereabouts. Yes, we did have Salem, spouse of the Director of Operations, poking around, asking questions.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, boy. Yeah. And I will say this is also a very common management tactic.

[Deja Indigo]

Of course.

[Mia Wong]

And it's part of why, when you're organizing, you need to do the basic power mapping of figuring out who is close to the bosses and who is close to management and what ties they have, because that dramatically affects. Yeah. You two absolutely both know this. But for the listeners. Yeah. It is very important to figure out who the person who's married to management and will report to them is.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes.

[Jackie Mae]

So I treat it as game theory. I have treated all of this like it has been a game.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Because that's how I process it. That's.

[Deja Indigo]

That's.

[Jackie Mae]

That's all I needed to say about that. Go ahead, Deja.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. So to the credit of every union member, not a single person violated OPSEC on this. Nobody confessed to any union organizing activity.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

That doesn't change that they continued to be suspicious. In any case, we had our second meeting on May 14. At that meeting, present were representatives from the IWW as well as a representative from ILWU Local 5. Because at that point, we had not been formally endorsed by a union, and we wanted to get some perspectives from whoever was available to speak to us. And those were the two shops that were available to come talk to us. At that meeting, we again voted unanimously to continue with organizing unionizing. We were initially going to do it under the auspices of ILWU Local 5. However, their onboarding protocols are a little bit more time consuming and involved than the IWWs. And the following Monday, which Jackie May will be talking about in just a second, there were some circumstances that sort of forced us to go with the union who could get us on board lickety split.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. So that Monday, I want to say it was like midday. I had just finished with, like, my. I want to say my first two people and was. I was on my way to the break room to grab a drink, and on my way out, I see my coworker, fellow union member, and even my housemate come out of her office flanked by real you Electrolysis management. And the last time I saw her that day was she had tears streaming down her face. And she just goes, jackie May. They fired me. And I responded immediately. Yeah, I got, I want to say five or six of us together outside of Director of Operations Eric Lee's office. And we voiced our displeasure. We voiced that our co workers should have their jobs back. We voiced that none of us feel safe because of the working conditions. None of us feel safe because of the way management goes about handing out disciplinary actions, the inconsistency with the different things that they will or will not punish. I just see his eyes peeking up over his monitor, and he's like, well, I can't. I can't discuss what's in somebody's, you know, personnel file. And also, I can't hire them back. My hands are tied. You don't. You don't know all of the documentation on our side. So I go, okay, who else do we got to talk to? And Zarek Lee points us to president of Real U Electrolysis.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Anna Landry. And we go down to her office and we say the same things. And she says, I'm not what is. I'm paraphrasing. I cannot make unilateral decisions.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes.

[Jackie Mae]

And I asked who else we would have to talk to about this, and she said, that would be co president Leah Lefevre and director of Operations Eric Lee. I turned around, and right across the hallway from Anna's office is Leah in reception. So we give them the exact same spiel of, we're not happy with this. This needs to be corrected. None of us feel safe about this.

[Deja Indigo]

And this was not simply Jackie Mae speaking either. Those of us present all voiced concerns, myself included. You know, it was very clearly not the actions of a single individual, but of a concerted group.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes, they may trust me to speak for them, but I also know when to be quiet so that they can voice their opinions. At that point, Deja had finished with all of their appointments and said, hey, I'm done for the day. I'm going home. This isn't me giving you an official resignation. I need to go home and consider my options. And I followed suit with, I'm not giving you a resignation. You have essentially created a family emergency for me.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

And now I have to go see to that family emergency. That is important. We will come back to that interaction.

[Mia Wong]

Oh boy.

[Jackie Mae]

Later.

[Mia Wong]

Yes, I will say being one of the two presidents of the company and someone goes, don't fire our co workers and you go, sorry, that's not like I can't make unilateral decisions. Is the most absolutely chicken shit response I've ever seen in my entire life. Like, it's like, it's like fucking, it's fucking like Verder von Braun. Like when the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department. It's like, you are the president of the company. Like, what are we doing here? Like, I, I can't make unilateral decisions. Like, you are the president. Like there's like three people in management. What are we doing here? I mean, I guess like, I mean the thing you're doing here is everyone in secession is trying to be like, ah, I actually can't do anything. It's like, yes, you can. You do run the business.

[Deja Indigo]

But I would also like to note that this conversation held between the group of us with Anna Lantry and Leah lefevre very early on in that conversation, Anna Lantry said, this conversation is over and walked away. However, Leah. Yeah, they do continue to have a conversation with us. And was the person that we informed that, yeah, we are not resigning.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Anybody who leaves today is doing so because their schedule is clear or they are having a family emergency. Both of these things are acceptable reasons for leaving your shift. And that has been established through ample precedent.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

So that was Monday. That was Monday, May 18th.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ.

[Jackie Mae]

That's not even all of Monday.

[Mia Wong]

Right.

[Jackie Mae]

I want to point out or include that straight from the job site. I went home, I grabbed my other roommate who is at the time wasn't a part of the union because wasn't an employee of Real U Electrolysis but is on the Real U Electrolysis hiring list.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, so it's like, it's like a contractor situation.

[Deja Indigo]

Not quite.

[Jackie Mae]

They will work with us in the future.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, it just like hasn't been fully hired.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, that's kind of the way they do things. Like they hire people well in advance of having them actually start work. Like Most of us were hired like months and months and months before we started actually taking shifts.

[Jackie Mae]

So Monday I go home, I pick up my housemate who is incredible and has a special interest in documentation and bureaucracy. She and Deja are my two documents and shout out, shout out to VAY because we wouldn't have been able to get here without you. And we went to the IWW over in Portland and we had a meeting with them and we just walked in there with the intention of asking for help from like their solidarity network of like, hey, we have just been put into like a hardship status at this point because of what has happened. Can you help us like with rent? And I want to say that meeting was like two or three hours long. We talked about a lot of plans moving forward and instead of just having support with rent, we came away with a plan of what we would be doing next. And Tuesday came. We had all 11 people of this union meet in the parking lot and sign our petition together. We got it photocopied, we made digital copies, we made sure it was all safe. Our person got that stuff filed away for us, got us some very nice red folders to be able to keep all of these documentation in. And yeah, we were given, I was given a red folder labeled management. And we planned to deliver this on, on Wednesday. Tuesday was quiet. Tuesday was like quiet before the storm quiet. Yeah, we were all braced that I was going to be fired because while I wasn't swearing or rude to management, I wasn't as even toned or level headed as I am right now.

[Deja Indigo]

I was also bracing to be fired because I did also do a lot of that speaking and I was extremely emotional at the time as well.

[Jackie Mae]

Absolutely.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, I do think there is one little tidbit that is important to mention about the employee who was fired on Monday is not only was this person a union member and one of the organizers, this person also had a fully like workplace sanctioned and endorsed romantic relationship with the first person who was fired. So. And like again, this is, this is not like they were illicitly dating. It's like management had a protocol, had forms and all that for when co workers are dating. It's in the employee handbook that they're okay with that. Yes. And so it looks.

[Mia Wong]

So they're like moving through the. Yeah, that's. That's. That's interesting.

[Jackie Mae]

I.

[Mia Wong]

That's. Oh boy. I. Yes, there's a thing this, an FAA guy said about. There's. There's a story of that guy who was like flying around in a lawn Chair with, like, balloons attached to it.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, my God. I know that story.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And the thing about the. The news calls the FAA guy and the FAA guy goes, we don't know what section of the Federal Aviation Cody is violated, but when we figure it out, we're prosecuted with it. And like, that has to be some kind of violation of like, like specifically targeting people in a relationship. Like, there's. There's got to be something there. But I don't know. And I mean, admittedly, American workplace law is a complete nightmare, but that is extremely sketchy and shitty and.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, we're gonna get it sorted out.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, yes.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, I just. Oh, boy. Jesus Christ. That. That feels not good. And. Good Lord.

[Deja Indigo]

Okay, so Jackie May, please continue.

[Jackie Mae]

I slept real good Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Let me just say that I slept real good Wednesday morning. We coordinated and. And we went. We went a little early, admittedly. I got a little. There was a little bit of adrenaline and I kind of jumped the gun. Just, just. Just a hair. We were supposed to wait until 11:55 to deliver our signed petition.

[Deja Indigo]

It's okay.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. We all had noon appointments. And we are all so committed to our patients that none of this process, like, interrupted patients in treatment. All of this had been coordinated around our schedules so that people got to continue getting treatment.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, that is correct. There has never been a point where a patient's treatment session has been interrupted or a patient has been abandoned. I'm saying this because there are some accusations from management to that effect, and I would like it on public record that that is absolutely false and that we can all attest to this foreshadowing.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah, more foreshadowing.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes. Sorry.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, boy.

[Jackie Mae]

So Wednesday morning, I have the privilege, I have the backing of the crew to go serve this paperwork. We had somebody from the union kind of send out. Send out a feeler text to find out when the president and co president would be in the building. It wouldn't be until after 12:30. We served that paperwork to Director of Operations Eric Lee. He took that at 11:48. He doesn't really give us a response. Besides, there's a lot here. I'm going to have to read it all thoroughly and get back to you. But we go about our days. I have to leave sight after two of my appointments because I left my phone at a gas station. So I had to leave and come back.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, no.

[Jackie Mae]

It's okay. We got it. It's all good.

[Mia Wong]

Yay.

[Jackie Mae]

2:51. I'm back on site. I am in My own office. I have co president Leah Lefevre and one other member of management present, and they are firing me. They are handing me three write ups.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ.

[Jackie Mae]

Now, the earliest of those write ups, or I should say, I guess the oldest of those write ups, are from May 4, 2026. And it essentially is a write up that says, jackie, you were rude to management. Now let's talk about why. Let's talk about why that write up happened. You see, by that point in time, we were on the third pay period where we were all being given paper checks after years.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. Years of direct deposit. Like, long history of direct deposit only switch to paper checks.

[Jackie Mae]

We were given paper checks. Those checks had been bouncing.

[Mia Wong]

Paychecks are bouncing.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes.

[Deja Indigo]

Not just Jackie Maze either.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Jesus Christ.

[Jackie Mae]

That is true. That, like, I'm. What I will say is, on average per pay period, like, a handful of us had their checks bounce. That will come into play later. That's foreshadowing.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, boy.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. So my check bounced once my bank account went. Okay, that's kind of sus. My check bounced a second time. I currently don't have access to a bank account because my bank has labeled what has happened fraudulent activity. And my bank is investigating, not me, because they've now figured out that it's not me that's doing it. I can prove the checks are bouncing.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ.

[Jackie Mae]

But.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, but they still locked your bank account. Yes, because the. Because the other people's checks bounce. Jesus Christ.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. So we should note here that we all were aware that Jackie Mae was locked out of fair bank account and experiencing financial hardship to the point where we actually did have some of our union members, like, donating food to Jackie Mae

[Jackie Mae]

Solidarity Network came through for me because that kept us fed. That kept us, like, we. We were able to have gas for that for the next. Like, to get us to the next payday. Essentially. This. This whole thing would set me back, like, a full pay period. Like, I wouldn't get the last check cashed until we got to the next pay period on Friday. Because we get paid every two weeks.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And this is something we've talked about on this show a lot, is that, like, you know, and I mean, I think most people listening to this show understand this on an intuitive level, but it's like, if your paycheck fucking bounces, that's really fucking bad. Like. Yeah. Holy shit. And it's like, yeah. Like, obviously that's gonna cause, like, unbelievable, like, financial distress and it fucking sucks. And I'm really sorry You've been having to deal with that on top of fucking everything else. Because that's just. Yeah, that's something that could just like completely fuck your entire life. That's through no fault of your own.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

It's literally your boss is fucking up.

[Deja Indigo]

Yep.

[Mia Wong]

God.

[Jackie Mae]

I want to note that still to this day I do not have access to my bank account as far as I know. Jesus Christ. The last week has been really crazy and like I haven't been able to get out to like a credit union or anything to get something new set up.

[Mia Wong]

So. So that's just in the, in the, in the background. Like you're not even getting paid because the checks are bounced.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes. And Jackie Mae was understandably distressed over this and accepted expressed that frustration. And that was the cause of a write up that was used to justify termination. Right. Is that. Do I have that right, Jackie Mae?

[Jackie Mae]

That is correct. That is the first.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ.

[Jackie Mae]

That write up is from May 4th. That write up is from May 4th.

[Mia Wong]

I have heard of a lot of bullshit write ups in my time doing this job. Write up for being rude to management because you were talking to them about the fact that your paycheck boun is the worst write up I have ever heard that. It's like that, like even. Even including ones where like. Because obviously, like, people, they'll just like make up to do a write up for. But like, that's like a special level of like, oh, no, this did kind of happen. But it's because they up and bounced your paycheck. Jesus Christ.

[Deja Indigo]

So, Jackie, me, I believe you were recounting the write ups that Leah Lefevre presented to you.

[Mia Wong]

Sorry about that. I'm just. I'm just losing my mind. That's so awful.

[Jackie Mae]

So the second one is because they did a room inspection. It's really weird. They like doing room inspections when they want to remove somebody.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

So there was a room inspection and they were like, your room's not clean enough. Okay. That's your statement. The third write up. Do you remember when I had a family emergency that they caused and I left site because they caused a family emergency?

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

My third and final write up was because I left early and they tried to say, well, Jackie, you didn't ask for our permission. Excuse me, Jackie Mae, you didn't ask for our permission to leave for the day. You just told me it was happening. And that was my third write up.

[Deja Indigo]

I would like to add to this that I myself have multiple documented instances of having to leave work because of a health or Mental health emergence situation. And there has never been a situation where I said, may I leave? It has always been I need to leave. And I have noted and observed this with other employees as well. None of these incidences ever culminated in a write up or any sort of disciplinary action. So this is clearly inconsistent with ample precedent for the application of disciplinary standards.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, they're just trying to find reasons to get three write ups, which is also like just a sign of how well y' all are like doing your jobs that like, because like, normally employers have like random code infractions that are always just sort of laying around that they can pick up and be like, hey. But it's like they couldn't even like find anything. They had to just like basically fabricate complete. Just like absolute nonsense.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes.

[Mia Wong]

Like Jesus Christ.

[Deja Indigo]

Am I recalling correctly, Jackie Mae, that these are the first instances of any documented disciplinary plenary action against you in your tenure at really? Electrolysis?

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah, I'm a good girl. I follow the rules and I do so very, very well.

[Deja Indigo]

So.

[Mia Wong]

And then suddenly it's like, oh, here's, here's three write ups. Like again, like the, the, the post facto write up for the hi, I am upset that my paycheck bounced. Converse Jesus.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, and so I will note that even that very first write up did take place after we were engaged in organizing activity after management had demonstrated suspicion.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

And all of these write ups were delivered within a few hours of the delivery of our petition for voluntary recognition.

[Mia Wong]

Uh huh. Which I, I, I, I will say looks not even just suspiciously like, it looks like they have just like a giant polar bear sitting there. And the polar bear is union retaliation. And they've like painted a little clown face on it and gone. This is a clown, not retaliation from forming a union. It's like, no, that is a polar bear. What are we doing here? Oh God.

[Jana Kramer]

This is Jana Kramer from Wind down with Jana Kramer. So why do they call it a dishwasher? Well, don't worry, it's not a trick question or anything. It's just because it washes dishes. If the filter and the dishwasher itself are dirty, those dishes aren't actually getting clean. That's why you need Cascade Platinum Plus. Powered by two times the cleaning power of Dawn, Cascade Platinum plus doesn't just remove 100 of grease and residue from dishes. It cleans your dishwasher and filter too. So you get clean dishes and a dishwasher that keeps washing. Just scrape, load and done. Find Cascade Platinum plus at your local retailer. Cascade is a proud sponsor of the Elton John Impact Awards, honoring those who have helped shape a more inclusive and compassionate world with their artistry, advocacy and unwavering commitment to equality. Cascade would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of this year's deserving honorees. Don't miss the Elton John Impact Awards podcast, available on June 1st on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.

[Public Investing Representative]

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[Deja Indigo]

So what happened next, Jackie May?

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, gosh. What happened next? Well, you know, I had to clean out my office, so I grabbed the stuff that was important to me. I took my time. I wasn't angry. I didn't. I really didn't speak throughout much of it, because at that point, the best thing I could do is just take my recording, not say anything. And as soon as I was out of the office, I sent a message to the union members that said, hey, I was just fired. They walked me out of the building. If we're going to do something about this, we need to do something about this now. And that was at 2:51. By 4:01pm Wednesday afternoon, we had the rest of the union organize a. Organize and stage a walkout in solidarity.

[Mia Wong]

That's really quick.

[Jackie Mae]

I'm gonna let Deja take over because I was outside.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah. So at the point that we found out Jackie Mae had been terminated, we called an emergency vote in our secure messaging platform that we use to coordinate things, and we voted in favor of doing a walkout once we had each finished with our obligations to patients. In fact, I actually had an appointment scheduled from 3:15 to 3:45 that at that point, I elected to continue that appointment, and I did so. I provided treatment as usual, cleanup as usual, chart noting, as usual, not a single person who engaged in this walkout did so without completing their scheduled treatment in that time slot. Yeah, once that appointment was finished and everything was in compliance within my room and the rooms of those who were not stuck in appointments, because we did have a couple of union members who were in longer appointments who were not able to join the walkout immediately, those of us who were free did walk out. And when we did this, we spoke directly to Leah lefevre, who was sitting at the reception desk, and said that we are staging a formal walkout in protest of the wrongful termination of Jackie May.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

And this is not a resignation. This is a legally protected action under the National Labor Relations Act. Leah then said that anyone who walked out that door must immediately surrender their keys and was no longer welcome on the premises.

[Mia Wong]

No, that's. Jesus Christ. Sorry. I was just. In terms of, like, open retaliation for union activity, like, oh, boy.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, we were. Oh, honestly, Mia, we were so gobsmacked at the just absurdity that she would take such a blatant action of retaliation that our response was, are you sure you want to do that? And the answer was yes. So initially, we did not return Our keys because we wanted to confer with somebody from the iww. So we spoke with an IWW representative who advised us that their demand for the return of the keys was a lawful demand for the return of company property and that we should comply with that. So we did. We gathered up our keys. We sent a representative back in to return them. And at that point, we were officially on strike. We reunited with Jackie Mae in the parking lot. We started strategizing about how we were going to do this. IWW sent some folks our way to, like, provide support. I took off to pick up some art supplies so that we could make signs and just general, like, things like water and snacks. Our other union members, who were currently inside treating patients, finished their appointments as scheduled and emerged when they were no longer responsible for any patient care, also turned in their keys. At that point, we did have an IWW representative on scene who accompanied those employees back inside to return the keys and to confirm to Leah LeFevre directly that this is not a resignation. It cannot be construed as a resignation that this is a protected organizing action and that all we were doing was complying with a lawful demand for the return of company property. We have plenty of witnesses to this, regardless of any statement that they may choose to make to the contrary, which also.

[Mia Wong]

I just want to know. This is the first time I've ever gotten timestamps on, like, a walkout. This is the best documented one of these I've ever seen. Like, y' all are very organized.

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, yeah.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, my God.

[Deja Indigo]

No, no, we're not. We're not playing around.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

So at that point, Jackie Mae, I think you can take it from here.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah. So real quick, I gotta go back.

[Deja Indigo]

We got.

[Jackie Mae]

I. I forgot a very important detail about Monday after. After my co worker, union member, and housemate was fired. In talking to Zarek Lee, I looked him in the eyes and I told him, don't do this. I said, please don't do this. Please don't call my bluff on this. Please don't make me do this. And we're here now. I. Jumping back to Wednesday, I had to go off site. I was meeting with some IWW members who were. We were mainly discussing what we were going to do next in. Or what options we had in response to a mass firing. Yeah, we spent a couple hours at that. I came away understanding a whole bunch more as to what we're doing. I returned to the shop and I think I don't remember it very well because I was all Emotion and adrenaline at that point in time.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

What I will say is that when Anna Landtry and Leah Lefevre were getting in their cars to leave sight, I made sure that they heard me, that the block heard me, that a good chunk of downtown Washington could hear. Could hear my anger and my passion. If. I don't know if you can tell in my voice right now, but I kind of went a little too hard on it, and it's why I sound like I do now.

[Deja Indigo]

A little bit scratchy. It happens. I'm honestly surprised I can speak as well because there's been lots of chanting and singing and yelling and.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Deja Indigo]

Because we have been on the picket line pretty much since then, every single day that the business is open.

[Jackie Mae]

That is correct.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Which I want to roll back for a second and just point out that, like, going from, yeah, we all signed our union petitions and then we delivered it the next day, and then that same day, everyone is on strike is astonishing. The pace of it is absolutely incredible. And then also just. It says a lot about the solidarity that you all have and all of your character that, A, yeah, there's just. Everyone does a walkout and goes on strike. And then B, also, I think it speaks to who you're fighting for here, Both each other and also the fact that all of you were so careful to make sure that your patients got their care is. Yeah, it's something that I think speaks. It says a lot about the kind of people all of you are, and it says a lot about the kind of people that management is that this is what they're doing to people who both fight for each other and also care deeply about the patients and the people that they're taking care of.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, Yeah, I really do. I know Jackie Mae and I are the ones who are kind of operating as the mouthpiece, but I absolutely need to express the deepest, most sincere appreciation for all of the other union members because, you know, not everybody involved in this has been as just like, gung ho angry. Like, screw it, let's do this. Like, this has been really difficult and nerve wracking for a lot of them. But you know what? They have followed through and persevered. And not a single person who started this with us has switched sides or dropped out. Everybody has been so brave and so committed and showing up so fiercely. And yeah, we are also, like, our patients are still the most important thing. Like, yes, we've been picketing, but we have not been turning anybody away from crossing the picket line. Every patient that shows up to be treated by one of the very few people who is still on site providing care at real EU Electrolysis crosses the line with our complete blessing. And we are absolutely vocal and unequivocal about that, that we are not trying to deny anybody care. And in fact, like, we are reaching out to other electrology providers out there to, you know, try to offer some options to our patients who have chosen to forego their care out of solidarity. You know, we really. We want to get back to work and go back to giving care to our people, but management has made that impossible.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. I think one of the things that comes through really clearly here is like, yeah. How willing management is to just hurt people and how dedicated all of you are to making sure that people you're caring for get their care. And also the just astonishing amount of bravery that it takes to not only go on strike and continue to be on strike, but also to do that in a situation where getting fired potentially means that you have to fight off paying the company that was employing you, that you're striking against $21,000. That is some of the worst conditions imaginable. And all of you did it anyways. And it's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

[Jackie Mae]

Thank you.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

It's almost pride. It's 2026. We're making history here. This union is for trans people, by trans people, to provide care.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

To, by and large, other trans and queer people. And weirdly, I have to say thank you to our two bosses because if they hadn't have made the decisions that they made, things could have been so different. It didn't have to be this way.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Is what I have to say. It didn't have to be this way. But they chose this. They chose this. And we have chosen at every time, every, every opportunity to choose each other and to choose our community and go, no, you're not going to bully one of us. We're not allowing this anymore. We are sticking together.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. And it's. It's been really incredible seeing the way that all of you have. Have taken this opportunity and taken all of these risks to fight for each other. There's a quote that I heard about you from management about why they hired a bunch of trans people that. I was wondering if you could tell the audience what that quote is, because. Jesus Christ.

[Deja Indigo]

It's a super majority of trans.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Which is super rare for almost.

[Deja Indigo]

Almost the entire workforce.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Yes. So this quote comes from President Anna landry from the Fourth of July Company barbecue held at their house in 2025.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, no.

[Jackie Mae]

With this eaten grin, she says, yeah, if you pay a trans woman $30 an hour and you give her health insurance and a little bit of respect, she will march through a brick wall for you.

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ. Like, there's two immediate, obvious angles. One, it's like, oh, so you, like, knew what. You knew what you were doing here, Right. You were deliberately hiring. You were deliberately hiring trans people because you thought you. Because you thought they were. They would be easier to exploit. And that's hideous.

[Jackie Mae]

Those are your words.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, like, that.

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That's.

[Mia Wong]

That's. Yeah. This is my. This is my analysis of. This is like, that's. Jesus Christ. And then b. Also, this is. This is really so, like, your chickens are coming home to roost. Like, you. You have sown the wind and you are now reaping the whirlwind. Because it is true that trans people get treated like absolute shit. And it's very nice to get a job where you're not being treated like shit. But it's also true that if you decide to fuck over a bunch of trans women, like, we will fight for each other. Like, trans people and queer people will fight for each other. And I think that's one of the sort of beautiful things about, you know, as. As much as all of this absolutely fucking sucks, but, like, the fact that you were able to pull this many people off the line immediately and get a strike going, you know, that has. Like, almost all of the clinicians are on strike. It's this real refutation of what management believed about trans people. Yep. Which is like, no, actually, you can't just fucking sit there and exploit us, because we will organize and fight. Yeah, we'll fight for each other.

[Deja Indigo]

We will. And I do want to stress, too, like, the diversity of our workforce. Like, we are not all trans women. We come, like, a variety of backgrounds, a variety of ages. You know, like, I. I don't know how old the oldest among us is, but I know I'm 43, and we have somebody as young as 18 on the workforce, and they're all in the picket line together.

[Mia Wong]

It's. It's. It's beautiful. It's. It's incredible. What is. What is the state of things sort of right now? And what are you fighting for in the strike? And I guess, how can people help?

[Deja Indigo]

Big questions. Well, we are officially endorsed by the IWW. We are now IWW Industrial Union. 610. The picket is ongoing. Our fellow union members are on the picket line right now as we are recording this. Yep. At this point, management has elected not to bargain with us. They have sent a copy and paste letter to all of us who were present for the walkout on May 20th.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, God.

[Deja Indigo]

Basically requesting a response and making some demonstrably materially false allegations about the nature of the walkout and the conversations that were had with management. So we have a letter from the union that we are going to send from the union email address and will be endorsed by all the individual members. But other than that, that's. That's the only contact we've had with management. So they do not seem interested in bargaining or in resolving the strike. They have not asked for demands. Our demands are fairly simple.

[Mia Wong]

Having management go, no contact through the strike is not normal. Like, completely. Literally no contacts up for one email. That's like, weird by management through the strike standards. Like, usually they're at least communicating like. Like sometimes they do this, but like, that's by management standards.

[Jackie Mae]

So I can explain why that is.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

Do you remember earlier when Deja said that Anna Lantry had declared that this conversation was over?

[Mia Wong]

It's still over.

[Jackie Mae]

It's still over.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, my God.

[Jackie Mae]

This conversation is still over because that's what she tells herself when she needs to feel in control.

[Deja Indigo]

So we would assume.

[Jackie Mae]

So I would assume that is. That is true. I've been treating lists like game theory and that opinion is purely speculative. What's not speculative is our demands. Reinstatement of employment of all union members, including those terminated prior to May 20, 2026. The expungement of all disciplinary records for all reinstated employees. Back pay for all reinstated employees. The immediate cessation to any and all collections activities related to the outstanding debts owed to Real U Electrolysis by any and all union members. Voluntary recognition of Real U Electrolysis Workers United IWW IU 6 10. And the immediate commencement of bargaining for a new labor contract wherein our right to strike shall not be curtailed.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, this is like one of the things that I think about a lot in terms of just how unbelievably unreasonable management is being, which is that those are such unbelievably reasonable and moderate demands. Like, I don't know, like, when you reach the point where, like, paychecks are bouncing because your bosses are fucking you. Like, just. Just the amount of reasonableness and maturity that all of you are showing and the just mix of staggering incompetence and evil that management is showing is. It's, It's. It's really staggering.

[Jackie Mae]

And.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, and I guess that Leads me to the other part of that, which is, yeah, how. How can people support y'?

[Deja Indigo]

All? Yeah, that's sort of like an ongoing thing we're working on putting together. We don't really have, like, a web presence at the time of this recording. We do have an email address for the union that we've been directing people towards. And that is all lowercase, all one word. RealUnion, electrolysismail.com and that's. Electrolysis is E, L, E, C, T, R, O, Electrole. Lysis.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, we'll put the email in the description and.

[Deja Indigo]

Fantastic.

[Mia Wong]

When media stuff and like, social media stuff gets online, we'll put that in the description too.

[Jackie Mae]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Right now that is the best way to reach us. Believe you could also reach out to the IWW in Portland, since that's who we're working with. They do coordinate things like strike funds and financial assistance and all that. And so we do have their resources available to us, and that might be the most expedient way. But, yeah, we are working as fast as we can to get other things going, like an Internet presence.

[Mia Wong]

This has all happened so quickly, like, it's astonishing. Also, do you want people to show up to your pickets? And if so, where is that?

[Deja Indigo]

Oh, please, we would love that.

[Jackie Mae]

The address for that is 907 Harney street in Vancouver, Washington. Downtown Vancouver, Washington. I'll say that again, it's 907 Harney Street.

[Mia Wong]

Awesome.

[Jackie Mae]

Come out, show your support. Thank you.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, and the picket does take place, like, at the mouth of the parking lot. I know there has been some confusion from some folks who wanted to come out as to where they meet us. You know, it's on. On Harney Street. Like, just listen for the music and the cheers and you'll find us.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, I've been out to visit the picket line and it's a really sweet time. Everyone there is great. And as always, we're bringing picket lines. Just being on a picket line just in support is an incredible experience. And also, if you can bring food and water and stuff, it's always something that helps a lot.

[Jackie Mae]

Oh, yeah.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

Thank you.

[Jackie Mae]

By the way.

[Deja Indigo]

Yes, I would like to also add, as far as support is, it's not just us who need support, it's also our patients.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Deja Indigo]

So anybody who is practicing electrolysis in the, like, greater Portland, Vancouver area who is willing to provide care to our displaced patients, please reach out to that email address as well so that we can direct them to you.

[Mia Wong]

Awesome. Well, Deja Jackie Mae, thank you so much for coming on the show and yeah, I hope we can talk to you fairly soon after you win.

[Jackie Mae]

Thank you.

[Deja Indigo]

Thank you.

[Jackie Mae]

Thank you for having us. Thank you for letting us tell our story.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, of course.

[Deja Indigo]

This is incredible. This is such a big help. And you also are such an inspiration and such a treasure to this community. I've been doing so good at not fangirling over being on your show, but I am a longtime listener and so this is just like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm talking to Mia mom right now.

[Mia Wong]

Well, I, I think, you know, a. I want to say I think what you're doing is significantly more inspiring than me going on and doing a podcast. Like, the fact that you've. You running this strike is just fucking incredible. And the fact that you're fighting for your people and fighting for your patients is just unbelievable. Credit to all of you as people and two, you know, like, just like two, two, two, two. Trans people in general. You are a credit to us all.

[Deja Indigo]

Thank you.

[Mia Wong]

Also, I want to say this is more evidence, something I've been saying on this show for a long time, but like the people who form unions, it's not some kind of just like special class of people. It's just literally, it's ordinary, everyday people like you, the listener, who are the people who join these things and build these movements and fight for them and you know, like, you too can be the person who builds, builds a union in your workplace and fights for it and wins.

[Deja Indigo]

Preach.

[Mia Wong]

And when we work together, when we organize together, when we fight, we can fucking win.

[Jackie Mae]

We can.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Jackie Mae]

If we're done, I need to get out to the front lines so I can get back to hollering at these people because they need hollered at.

[Deja Indigo]

Yeah, I'm all fired up now. So.

[Mia Wong]

It could happen. Here is a production of Cool Zone Media.

[Jackie Mae]

For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media,

[Mia Wong]

Visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts you

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[Deja Indigo]

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