The cannabis workforce is increasingly unionized. This month, for instance, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 328 began representing workers at Curaleaf in Massachusetts and Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Rhode Island. UFCW says it represents more than 10,000 cannabis sector workers across the country, making it the biggest player by far in unionizing the industry.
But unions face a barrier to organizing a crucial segment of the industry: growers, trimmers, and cultivators. In the eyes of the federal government, the people handling plants bear a resemblance to agricultural laborers – a workforce exempt from federal organizing protections.
However, that hasn’t stopped unions and workers from trying to organize that part of the industry, and efforts to change the interpretation of the law. And the more union-friendly Biden administration could eventually tilt the matter in labor’s favor.
The National Labor Relations Board, the independent federal agency that decides on labor disputes, offered guidance under the Trump administration to a regional office to dismiss a case brought by a union on behalf of growers, trimmers, and cultivators, interpreting their work as agricultural in nature. However, the agency has not yet made a binding decision on how these workers should be classified moving forward.
Read more at cannabiswire.com