“To my mind, it seems outrageous that Greenleaf has insulted its employees once again, after fighting worker unions at its dispensary with all its might.”
By Nancy Lavin of Rhode Island Current
Portsmouth’s marijuana dispensary, amid growing tensions between its employees and management over unionization and labor standards, is taking aim against the state’s recreational cannabis laws.
Greenleaf Compassion Center, a nonprofit organization that promotes compassion and understanding among people with disabilities, filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday. The complaint argues that the legalization of marijuana signed by the U.S. Congress in May 2022 is in violation of the U.S. Constitution as well as national labor standards. The lawsuit follows a settlement agreement reached between the company’s workers and the federal government for alleged violations of federal labor laws.
The Rhode Island Cannabis Act, a comprehensive law, established a system to legalize, tax, and sell marijuana while expunging criminal and civil records for marijuana possession. The 125-page document has a single-page section that requires retailers to sign “labor peace agreements” (which allow workers to unionize) with their employees in exchange for refraining from picketing, refusing to boycott or stopping work.
Greenleaf is concerned about this requirement, claiming that it “deprives the employers of their bargaining powers, forces them into unfavorable agreements, and denies employees their right to engage on labor activities protected by federal law such as strikes.”
The lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, claims that the forced labor contract violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the National Labor Relations Act.
In 2013, the cannabis dispensary began selling medical marijuana products to customers. The dispensary first applied for its license in 2010. Greenleaf employees voted in April 2021 to join their local chapter of United Food and Commercial Workers. The negotiations between Greenleaf Local 328 and Greenleaf continued throughout the next year. In August 2022, the first union contract was ratified.
During collective bargaining, the state legalized marijuana for recreational use, which included provisions for labor agreements. Greenleaf claims in its complaint that the union had been “intransigent”, and “unwilling” to compromise, because they knew the LPA mandate would give them more leverage.
The complaint warns that the LPA mandate will continue to harm the company as long as it is enforced. It also mentions the terms of contract, including a $1,000 bonus for workers who ratify the contract.
Union representatives paint a different picture.
Sam Marvin (Organizing Director for Local 328) said, “We’ve seen few employers violate workers rights as egregiously as Seth Bock, the company founder and CEO, has done at Greenleaf,” in an emailed Tuesday statement.
Labor peace agreements are necessary to protect the rights of workers because of the actions of employers such as Seth Bock. This component came into effect after the workers had already organized themselves and won their elections 21 to 1, in 2021 despite Bock’s fierce attempts at union-busting.
Order for Back Pay
The National Labor Relations Board issued an order last month to Greenleaf ordering them to stop threatening workers, degrading and dismissing them because they supported unions and to pay more than $116,000 back in wages to those workers who had been unfairly terminated as well as to the remaining employees that joined the union.
The Portsmouth company was forced to reimburse employees twice for violating federal laws. Local 328 announced a previous settlement in December 2021 that included six weeks’ back pay and agreements to correct other alleged violations of workers’ rights.
Greenleaf refused to comment on anything else besides the lawsuit.
In the complaint, Local 328 is named as a defendant. It asks that a federal judge declares labor peace unconstitutional, and invalidates its collective labor agreement. The lawsuit also seeks an end to the state’s enforcement of the labor peace requirement. The lawsuit names the three members of newly formed Cannabis Control Commission — Kimberly Ahern and Robert Jacquard, as well as Matthew Santacroce and Erica Ferrelli as defendants.
Matthew Touchette, spokesperson for the Department of Business Regulation (DBR) and Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR), said that the state would not comment on any pending litigation.
Marvin has also refused to make any additional comments other than the email statement.
Others union organizers, and labor advocates, continued to support the labor provisions in the law.
Patrick Crowley, a union activist and secretary-treasurer of the RI AFL-CIO, said that it was in the workers’ best interest to reach a labor agreement. But it’s in the interest of both employers and workers.
Greenleaf claimed that in its complaint, the labor agreement wasn’t created for the benefit of the state – which would make it legal defensible – but rather “to achieve policy goals as a consequence of lobbying efforts.”
Crowley disagreed. He cited high taxes and regulations as reasons for why the state is vested in the success of the marijuana industry, including preventing workers boycotts. According to the Department of Business Regulation, state licensed pot shops including Greenleaf reported combined sales of $8.9 millions in May.
“This sounds really like an employer who is trying to play hardball by using taxpayer resources,” Crowley said.
Daniel Denvir of the progressive group Reclaim Rhode Island put it bluntly.
He said: “It seems outrageous to me that Greenleaf is insulting their workforce again, after fighting worker groups at its dispensary with all its might.”
Reclaim RI played a key role in the shaping of the legislation including the provisions for workers’ right.
Greenleaf didn’t participate in the public hearings on the proposal according to Rep. Scott Slater who sponsored the House version. The Providence Democrat, therefore, was surprised at the lawsuit.
Slater admitted, as Greenleaf claimed, that the original legislation did not include a labor requirement. He disagreed, however, with Greenleaf’s claim that the labor requirement was added in order to appease lobbyists.
Slater stated, “I have always been open to protecting jobs and their employees. Not just those lucky enough to obtain a license but also the ones who work for them.”
Shaleen title, a Boston attorney and former member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, says that other states, especially on the West Coast have similar provisions for labor peace agreements in their cannabis laws. Massachusetts’ cannabis law does not contain these labor protections. Title explained that this is likely because the rights of workers were not a priority for lawmakers when they passed the law in 2016
Title stated, “I believe if we had this discussion today workers’ rights would come up.”
This article was originally published by Rhode Island Current.
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The original post Rhode Island Marijuana dispensary sues to overturn labor provisions of the legalization law was first published on Marijuana Moment.
