As we steadily approach the widely celebrated 4/20 cannabis holiday, myriad consumers are eager to spend the day relishing in the growing community, taking advantage of local sales and consuming plentiful weed products.
In contrast, hundreds of workers at the largest cannabis delivery company in the U.S. were ready to spend this Saturday striking over pay cuts and working conditions. However, a recent release from The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) reports the delivery drivers and depot staff have reached a tentative agreement with their employer.
Eaze, a cannabis delivery company in Southern and Northern California, was founded in San Francisco in 2014 through millions in venture-backed funding, including support from rapper and longtime cannabis advocate Snoop Dogg. Two of the biggest investors include Thomas Jermoluk and tech billionaire James Henry Clark, who reportedly own a 35% share of the private company.
The company has been dubbed as the “Uber of weed” and was valued at more than $700 million in 2021. With nearly 600 workers across 11 locations, the strike would have likely been the largest work stoppage for the cannabis industry to date.
On Wednesday, The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) said that a tentative agreement was reached by a bargaining committee after nine months of “intense negotiations and preparations from an unprecedented state-wide strike.” The bargaining committee unanimously recommended that coworkers ratify the agreement, and the vote is expected later this week.
The original announcement of the pending strike came in an early April press statement via The UFCW, after drivers and workers at the company rejected its “last, best, and final” contract offer, authorizing their union to call for a strike if necessary.
“We are thrilled to have achieved such meaningful victories through our collective strength and solidarity,” said Ron Swallow, an Eaze delivery driver and member of the UFCW Local 770 negotiating committee. “This contract will not only improve the lives of Eaze employees but sets a powerful precedent for labor rights within the cannabis industry as a whole.”
The original charges filed with the National Relations Board included the company’s mileage rate pay cuts, which the company has refused to address in contract negotiations, implemented after workers unionized.
Swallow previously spoke with The Guardian, sharing that pay and scheduling were initially good when he started the company, until Eazer began implementing cuts to work schedules and staffing and the depot where deliveries are sourced from. He and his coworkers unionized shortly after in March 2023 in response to the changes, and Swallow said driver pay was significantly cut in summer of 2023 from 56 cents a mile to 42 cents.
Swallow also cited the costs of maintenance for using personal vehicles on the job, adding that he has had to take out loans to cover damage costs on top of insurance for running over road debris.
Worker objectives also included increasing hourly wages and ensuring a minimum number of hours, voting to authorize a strike if no progress was made on these aims before April 20.
Giovanna Sanchez-Esquival, a driver at Element 7 in South San Francisco, said that the bargaining committee felt positive about the progress, citing the need to reject the original offer which was met with “overwhelming” support from other union members and workers, bringing the company back to the table.
“We are proud that as workers we stayed united and were able to reach the best deal possible, which gives every Eaze worker a raise, a path to a transparent and equitable reimbursement for their mileage and won the largest statewide contract of its kind for cannabis delivery,” Sanchez-Esquival said.
In the initial release announcing the potential strike, UFCW Local 135 union steward Kerry McCue said that the company “claims poverty” to the union’s negotiation proposals, while they also claim “growth and prosperity” in interviews with the public and shareholders. Citing California as one of the most expensive states in the country to live in, McCue said that Eaze employees are “everyday people” simply trying to work hard and make a living.
“It’s a relief to finally reach a middle ground with a contract that recognizes our costs and contributions,” McCue said in the union’s updated bargaining release. “This agreement is going to have a real impact in actually improving Union member’s lives. I feel lucky that I got a chance to be involved, and to help make a difference.”
