Cannabis workers seek union

If you’ve passed a line of picketers on Southeast Hogan Road, you’ll notice the amount of people there striking against Cannabis Nation’s lack of a union for their agricultural facility employees.

As someone interested in labor/union issues, I decided to investigate the strike further.

The picketers have chosen the UFCW Local 555 (United Food and Commercial Workers) as their union of choice. Although this union does recognize agricultural workers, the National Labor Relations Board does not – but through the Oregon State Farmer’s Act laws on the books, the state gives them the right to go on strike.

After reading a document from Cannabis Nation, interviewing one of the workers of the agricultural facility that is not picketing, and reading two news articles on the topic, the primary demands presented were that Cannabis Nation hire back four workers who were previously fired over offenses such as time theft or verbal harassment towards management, and to be sure that the fire alarms at the agricultural plant are working.

These were the two main concerns I was informed of, but after interviewing a picketing captain, I was also told of a third demand not previously mentioned by any of the other outlets: that their union be recognized.

The third demand is crucial, because while most news outlets emphasize the fact that only half the workers have expressed the intent to unionize, or that only six of the employees walked out, I was told by the picketing captain that 70 percent of the workers had voted to unionize.

That was until Cannabis Nation fired four workers over the alleged offenses they committed that were “unrelated to unionization intentions.”

Cannabis Nation itself made a statement that it “[has] not and will not engage in any tactic to prevent the formation of a union if that is something our employees decide they ultimately want to do.” Despite this well-regarded claim, the picketing captain himself has said Cannabis Nation has called the police on their strikers “a bunch of times” for allegedly blocking the dispensary driveway, even though any time you pass by them you will see that they are clearly not staying still in the middle of the driveway exit.

This is also why the cops have been called multiple times: because they cannot get any sort of illegal or defamatory act to stick to these picketers just exerting their right to unionize.

Within the picketers’ demands was the issue of asking for the fire alarms to be tested as though they are functional. Although the fire alarms were in fact working, the problem was that they were working too well, as multiple false alarms had sounded through the agricultural facility, going off repeatedly without supposed cause. The picketers have deemed it an unsafe workplace not only from this, but also due to industrial pesticides used on the cannabis plants that have allegedly led to chemical burns scarring the workers.

To follow up on these concerns after the facility workers had walked out, the Cannabis Nation plant called state occupational safety and health officials to test the fire alarms, which finally resulted in compliance with city, state, and insurance requirements. Along with this, the plant has now implemented an eye-washing station and emergency shower.

Regardless, these improvements and maintenance only came after the employees went on strike.

These picket demands aren’t typical, due to the fact that they don’t mention worker pay or hours. According to the picketers, the strikers’ goal currently is to just establish the union, with pay and hours being the focus of later talks, after the employees are hopefully rehired and the building is deemed safe by their standards.

Until then, the picketers are paid by the union to protest for their demands, and the picketers ask that their story be spread, along with a consumer boycott on all Cannabis Nation products.