{"id":7957,"date":"2017-12-26T16:34:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T16:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2900652&amp;preview_id=2900652"},"modified":"2017-12-26T16:34:24","modified_gmt":"2017-12-26T16:34:24","slug":"big-labor-wants-to-unionize-california-cannabis-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/big-labor-wants-to-unionize-california-cannabis-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Big labor wants to unionize California cannabis workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/big-labor-wants-to-unionize-california-cannabis-workers\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Dec 26, 2017, 9:01 am \u2022 Updated: Dec 26, 2017, 9:27 am<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <strong>Scott Smith<\/strong>, <em> The Associated Press<\/em><\/p>\n<p>GOSHEN, Calif. \u2014 Unions have caught a whiff of a rare opportunity to organize a whole new set of workers as recreational marijuana becomes legal in California.<\/p>\n<p>The United Farm Workers, Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers are looking to unionize the tens of thousands of potential workers involved in the legal weed game, from planters to rollers to sellers. The move could provide a boost to organized labor\u2019s lagging membership \u2014 if infighting doesn\u2019t get in the way.<\/p>\n<p>The United Farm Workers, co-founded by iconic labor leader Cesar Chavez, says organizing an industry rooted in agriculture is a natural fit, and growers could label their products with the union\u2019s logo as a marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re a cannabis worker, the UFW wants to talk with you,\u201d national vice president Armando Elenes said.<\/p>\n<p>But United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents grocery store employees, meat packers and retail workers, registered its intent to organize cannabis workers across the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would hope they respect our jurisdiction,\u201d UFCW spokesman Jeff Ferro said.<\/p>\n<p>Teamsters organizer Kristin Heidelbach said there\u2019s no need for unions to battle each other. There will be plenty of workers needing representation as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/12\/20\/california-cannabis-businesses-small-big\/94944\/\">small cannabis businesses run by \u201chappy stoner\u201d types give way to large pharmaceutical corporations<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The green rush that begins in 2018 is an opportunity for unions to regain influence that began declining in the late 1950s, said David Zonderman, a professor of labor history at North Carolina State University. But discord between unions could upend it. As could resistance from cannabis business leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre they going to be new-age and cool with it,\u201d Zonderman said, \u201cor like other businesspeople, say, \u2018Heck, no. We\u2019re going to fight them tooth and nail?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, California voters approved sales of recreational marijuana to those 21 and older at licensed shops <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/11\/17\/california-marijuana-rules-legal\/92573\/\">beginning Jan. 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/10\/13\/california-marijuana-sales-2017\/89727\/\">Cannabis in California already is a $22 billion industry<\/a>, including medical marijuana and a black market that accounts for most of that total, according to University of California, Davis, agriculture economist Philip Martin. Medical marijuana has been legal since 1996, when California was the first state to approve such a law.<\/p>\n<p>Labor leaders estimate recreational pot in California could employ at least 100,000 workers from the north coast to the Sierra Nevada foothills and the San Joaquin Valley, harvesting and trimming the plants, extracting ingredients to put in liquids and edibles, and driving it to stores and front doors.<\/p>\n<p>Other pot workers have organized in other states, but California should be especially friendly territory for unions, said Jamie Schau, a senior analyst with Brightfield Group, which does marketing analysis on the marijuana industry.<\/p>\n<p>The state has one of the nation\u2019s highest minimum wages and the largest number of unionized workers across industries. Its laws also tend to favor employees.<\/p>\n<p>At least some workers say they\u2019re open to unions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m always down to listen to what could be a good deal for me and my family,\u201d said Thomas Grier, 44, standing behind the counter at Canna Can Help Inc., a dispensary in the Central Valley community of Goshen.<\/p>\n<p>The dispensary \u2014 with $7 million in yearly sales \u2014 sells medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Called a \u201cbudtender,\u201d Grier recently waited on a steady flow of regular customers walking through the door to pick out their favorite strain.<\/p>\n<p>He said so far, no unions have contacted him. Grier gets along with his boss and said he doesn\u2019t want to pay union dues for help ironing out workplace disputes. But he hasn\u2019t discounted the possibility of joining.<\/p>\n<p>After recently entering the marijuana industry, Los Angeles resident Richard Rodriguez said one sticky traffic stop three months ago converted him into a \u201chard core\u201d Teamster. He\u2019d never been in a union until this year.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez said an officer pulled him over delivering a legal shipment of pot and detained him for 12 hours as he was accused of following too closely behind a semi-truck.<\/p>\n<p>A union lawyer stepped in, and Rodriguez said he was released without being arrested or given a ticket.<br \/>\u201cMost companies can\u2019t or are unwilling to do that,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause employees are easily replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Unions have sighted a rare opportunity to organize a whole new set of workers as recreational marijuana becomes legal in California. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45,2155,6813,499,77,5667,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[2628,4723,6818,3073,2655,5673,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}