Business
Cannabis Workers Unionize as Industry Expands
Several thousand cannabis workers have now joined the United
Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Some say the time to join a union
is now, with fears that big pharma and tobacco tycoons may
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]S[/dropcap]everal thousand cannabis workers have now joined the United Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Some say the time to join a union is now, with fears that big pharma and tobacco tycoons may take hold of the industry, while others say there’s no need. Few in the industry show overt happiness about the restrictions imposed on cannabis companies, but is unionizing the answer?
Jeff Ferro is leader of Cannabis Workers Rising, the medical cannabis division of UFCW. “There is some urgency because if the federal law changes and big money and Big Tobacco get into this, we will find ourselves in a race to the bottom again,” Ferro explained to NBC News.
The UFCW recently brokered a labor agreement with Minnesota Medical Solutions, a dispensary in Minneapolis. Bernie Hesse is a leader of UFCW Local 1189, the Minnesota branch. “This is not your typical bad boss, workers rise up thing,” Hesse said. “It was more like we know a number of people who can help.”
In Los Angeles, the UFCW Local 770 faces a lesser-known rival, the United CannabisWorkers. The startup is smaller financially, but has 47,000 Facebook
followers, much more than the Cannabis Workers Rising account. Scott Bennett is leader of United Cannabis Workers and is the self-described “king of the consumer” in regards to cannabis and the industry. “I’m not trying to create conflict,” Bennett said. “I’m trying to resolve issues. I’m trying to connect people. I’m trying to get people to where they have benefits, to where they are treated fairly.”
Renee Grossman owns High Q, a dispensary in Silt, Colorado. Grossman calls unions “a thing of the past,” adding that employers already pay competitively. High Q budtenders start at $14 an hour compared to Colorado’s $8.23 an hour minimum wage. “I don’t really think [unions] serve the same function they did when they first came about,” Grossman explained. “Employers now recognize that they need to have some level of loyalty to their employees. What the union did in the past, the employers are now doing.”
Union members nationwide have dropped from 20% of the workforce in 1983 to 11.1% in 2014. Either way, workers in the cannabis industry are becoming more valuable and harder to find, as the industry expands rapidly and relentlessly.
