“We want the same things that any other worker wants. We want a safe and respectful workplace,” said a worker at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, who goes by the stage name Jupiter Jetson and asked that her legal name not be used for fear of harassment.

Prostitution is legal at licensed brothels in 10 of Nevada’s rural counties. That doesn’t include Clark County, home to Las Vegas, though Sheri’s Ranch is about an hour’s drive away. The majority of the brothel’s 74 sex workers submitted a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board last week under the name United Brothel Workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America.

Jetson said the drive was spurred by a new independent contractor agreement issued in December that would give the brothel power to use the women’s likeness without permission, even if they no longer work there.

“This is how you end up the face of a Japanese lubricant company without ever having signed a document,” Jetson said. “This is how you end up finding yourself on a website offering AI companionship without ever seeing a penny.”

Sex work, and the employment rights of the those who do it, remains a largely taboo topic worldwide. Prostitution is only legal in a handful of countries, including Germany, and organizing efforts vary. In Spain, where prostitution is unregulated, the government approved a union for sex workers in 2018 but a court quickly outlawed it, saying it made the exploitation of prostitutes legal.

“All workers are guaranteed certain human decencies and dignities, and the right to organize is one of those,” said Marc Ellis, state president of the Nevada Communications Workers of America.

Sheri’s Ranch respects the right of workers to “express their views on workplace structure,” Jeremy Lemur, the brothel’s marketing and communications director, said in an email. The business’s focus is on providing a “safe, lawful and professionally managed environment.”

The process could go back and forth for weeks, but the brothel could choose to recognize the Communications Workers of America as the sex workers’ representatives and begin negotiating a new contract immediately, according to union attorneys.

Concerns over contract terms

The workers at Sheri’s Ranch, who call themselves courtesans, were given a new contract in December that would give the brothel control over their intellectual property and power of attorney. The contract, viewed by The Associated Press, said the brothel will have the “irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license” to distribute the women’s material.

Another worker, who goes by the stage name Molly Wylder, said the terms would make it harder for courtesans to leave the industry and pursue other opportunities. For Wylder, sex work is a temporary job to help pay for her student loans. Like Jetson, she asked that her legal name not be used.

“It was never my plan to stay forever,” Wylder said.

When the women brought their concerns to management, they were told to sign or leave, they said. The women requested more time to decide, while some signed under duress, Jetson said. The dispute remains ongoing. Lemur did not respond to questions about the women’s concerns.

Jetson said she and two others were fired after the brothel learned about the unionization effort. The Communications Workers of America is fighting for them to be rehired. Lemur did not respond to questions about Jetson’s employment.

Independent contractor vs. employee

Sex workers are typically classified as independent contractors, said Barb Brents, an expert in Nevada’s sex industry and retired professor at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Independent contractors do not get as many legal protections as employees, but they usually get more freedoms. The success of their unionization could come down to a debate between whether they are considered independent contractors or employees.

The independent contractor status is fundamental to the workers’ autonomy, said Lemur.

But the women argue they are treated as employees. They have set schedules, they can’t work from home and they are required to charge a minimum of $1,000 per hour to their clients, Ellis said. Sheri’s Ranch gets 50% of what they earn.

“In our dream scenario, we would like to be recognized as employees because we would like the full rights and bargaining power that employees have,” Jetson said.

With many of the women making their own online content, they want their intellectual property protected. They also said they want to negotiate over their dress code — they were recently told they can only wear denim shorts, not pants — and they’d like to see a fairer wage contract.

Wylder said she’d also like to negotiate for health insurance, which they are not provided.

Other workers in the sex industry have seen success. In Los Angeles, dancers at the topless bar Star Garden became the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S. The Lusty Lady, a San Francisco strip club, was pioneering when its workers unionized in 1997, though it’s now closed.

Brents said the Sheri Ranch courtesans’ effort is significant in a stigmatized industry in which its workers historically lay low and stay quiet.

“It’s pretty amazing and heartening to see so many sex workers standing up for their rights,” she said.