ABSTRACT
La Union Unica was founded in 1993, after there were closures of bars and discos. It is an association that does not distinguish between sex workers and business owners. The workers have to support the business owners, because if they do not, people have no place to work. If one is a sex worker he/she cannot work on their own terms. There is always someone behind a person, to whom one gives one half of their earnings. The money that the businesses use for paying bribes to inspectors, or firefighters, could be people's if sex work were legal and they paid taxes. Organizing did not happen until nine years ago, when the authors started coming out. The first to start organizing sex workers was Gabriela Leite, from Brazil. And in Uruguay, it was Raquel. Then it opened up, like a blossoming.
