Meet the Teamsters unionizing the cannabis industry
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- Опубликовано: 14 мар 2023
- As more states and districts around the country push for legalization, the cannabis industry has exploded in recent years, with researchers estimating that the industry could generate over $70 billion in sales by 2030. While investors and business owners have dollar signs in their eyes, though, it is the everyday employees, from growers and packers to bud tenders, who are making the industry run. But the vast vast majority of those workers are not reaping the benefits of these booming profits; in fact, many cannabis workers around the country report insufficient pay, overwork and burnout, disrespect and mistreatment from management, all while having to navigate changing customer needs, state and federal regulations, and top-down decisions from executives and company founders that are handed down with little to no input from the actual workers who know the industry best. That is why we are seeing a simultaneous explosion of organizing efforts by cannabis workers themselves.
TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with a panel of workers and organizers from the state of Illinois who have been fighting to unionize with the Teamsters and improve the cannabis industry for themselves, their coworkers, and their customers. Panelists include: Ami Schneider, a worker at Enlightened Dispensary in Schaumburg, Illinois, and a member of Teamsters Local 777; Ryan “Fro” Frohlich, a worker at Zen Leaf in Chicago, Illinois, and a member of Teamsters Local 777; Chris Smith, organizer and business agent for Teamsters Local 777; Jim Glimco, president and principal officer for Teamsters Local 777.
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
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Legalize everything. No more top down authoritarian control over our agency and autonomy. A grower dispensing co-op should be the goal.
legalizing mj hasn't made the world a better place. It just brought in more government control. Ruining cities especially small towns.
I agree it shouldn't be criminalized...but this legalization...read the fine print...isn't any better.
In States where it is medicinal legal...cops still arrest citizens for possession.
Here in Las Vegas, all of the largest dispensaries have sold out to 3 corporations. Wages have leveled out at just above poverty and all of the onerous state regulations have been dumped onto the workers themselves. They literally have to pay the state every year just to work and with each additional permit the fees go up. Wage theft is epidemic and the state simply refuses to enforce the laws, leaving the employees with no option beyond expensive and time consuming civil action.
Those are great points.
The red tape, fees, attorney costs , & all the hopps to jump through + corporat corruption make it very hard for small owners to stay in biz..
I looked into starting a grow & the fees, regulations, and all that mess just wasn't worth it.
@@jupitercyclops6521 I've read that here, you need a minimum of $250K just to start the permitting process.
No one not rich is allowed to join the club.
the few free people were really upsetting the powers that be. It's strange, but everyone must suffer on earth except for evil people.
Also don’t forget you can have your bank accounts closed if they suspect you are in the industry. (my coworker got yelled at by a teller that he better not be in the cannabis because he will close his accounts now.) getting home loans we have to dance around our work because the federal law. If you leave the industry a lot of jobs will not even call you back with that on your resume.
@@Jdwest81 Didn't know that, but of should have guessed.
Go gang! Every time you sell a cannabis product, those of us who spent time pushing for legalization get to celebrate.
celebrate bring in evil...who do you celebrate with? Satan?
hey sphincter, you ruined a lot of lives, you know that?
Thankful for being in the teamsters union. We have industry leading pay, benefits, and a crazy thing called a pension. Glad to see the union organizing a new industry #solidarity
Glad you still have a pension. We lost ours here at Illinois IBEW local 51.
The one thing I don't like to hear.
Justifying why a worker deserves a living wage. We should not have to beg for $20 an hour that should be the minimum.
Peace love and solidarity!!
STANDING AT A COUNTER ACCEPTING PAYMENT AND GIVING OUT PRODUCT AND RECIPT IS NOT WORTH $20 AN HOUR.
Stay strong fellow workers!!!💪🏼
Unionizing the industry would raise the prices through the roof, might just be the motivation I need to grow myself.
Ya you must be smoking bud, the price for oz has gone down to around 100 dollars in Michigan and they still charge 30 and eight and 60-70 a Q. They haven't lowered the price lmao. O amd you should just grow it yourself cuz as you can see the workers aren't getting any of the profits.
@@damintten People should support local growers instead of dispensary's. Local grower's have high quality product and spend their money locally instead of sending it to a rich investment firm that possibly could be in an entire different country.
@@damintten I live in Grand County Colorado. The dispensaries here pay well, and the on average employees enjoy what they do. Prices have just now become reasonable.
I could grow enough for myself. But I've come to appreciate high quality flower grown by professionals. The few times I have experimented with growing bud resulted in an inferior product that cost me a lot of money and time. Maybe with better guidance I would have a different opinion on growing at home.
Idk about where you are at.. but in oregon prices are still cheaper then it was off the street before it was legalized. And that's with the governments big cut
$65 an 1/8... Prices are already through the roof! The current market profit is astronomical. There is absolutely room to raise wages.
Cannabis workers experiencing burnout… 👀😳
Burn out get 😂lol 4:20 for life
I support the unionization of the cannabis industry it is long overdue
U.S. Patent 6,630,507
The U.S. government holds Patent No. 6,630,507. This patent is in relation to marijuana and its use for treating certain medical conditions.
MJ isn't medicinal...it's a lie
@@Blue-hf7xt same as alcohol tobacco and pharmaceuticals are not medicine they are dangerous
SCHEDULE 1 BRUV, wait which is it...? No medical value...? or PATENTLY USED MEDICALLY??? our cuntry is a joke
@@brianschnebeck7990 ask them there the hold up
That patent basically covers synthetic cannabinoid compounds...it's like the Marinol (THC) patent from the mid eighties
I hope pray all of you get everything you deserve and then much more & ty all for sharing all of this 😇. I hope pray to be able to giive something in the future to help support this channe 😇l
I'm a retired Teamster. I don't know how i would survive without my Teamsters Pension. Thanks for spreading the news.
You would not be able to make it without Taking from others. Thats Teamsters.
You would have saved your money, invested better, found your true calling. Your dues made teamster leaders rich while you accepted pennies. And forcing those working paying dues ..to pay for your pensions.
@@Blue-hf7xt I pitty you. think you watch too much television. Just google Nations with the highest union participation, and you will have a list of countries more prosperous then ours with higher standards of living better education and free health care. Keep buying into the myth about investing in the stock market. by the way i chose the machinist profession as a young man and found pleasure in creating precision parts. I got so tired of people that would find a good paying job in a union machine shop and complain about giving one day pay a month to their retirement fund and union expenses and claim that they were really genius rock stars and would not be working in a machine shop when they were my age. They irritated people in the shop that enjoyed working there and still got the protection and stability a union shop offers.
See what happens when we ALL 💃 &🙏for 🌧🌦.....
IMAGINE if we ALL 🙏 & 💃for 🌎 ✌️ ☮️ 🕊
Great show. Thanks for sharing this!
I'm a Teamster ( 213 ) and I believe that joining Teamsters will benefit cannabis workers !
Thank you for this superb report!
We need one at PTS real bad southern Illinois 😫
Medical yes... Commercial greed knows no limits.
Looking forward to becoming
a listener supporter. Thank you
for truthful journalism.⭐⭐⭐
To begin with, cannabis should have never been made illegal. There has never been a good reason to do that. I wish everyone in this TRNN episode well, health, etc.
The grass has not been greener on the union side based on personal experience.
It is in skilled building trades like boiler makers, iron workers, pipe fitters and so forth. Not in retail or factories and the such
@@themuckler8176
Yea thats because skilled union workers actually get the job done safely and up to expectations. In many cases, for a lack of a better term, dog f'rs grab union jobs and screw around so much that the union looses it's influence. The members are essentially paying dues for nothing that can not be dealt with on an honest personal level. The bad ones ruin it for the good ones. Like for example. The right to refuse unsafe work is a good law but if a union member withdraws his service because of an underhoused individual sleeping on a subway train, there is a problem with that and the union that "has" to protect the member, looses clout.
@@kaboom362 “honest personal level” sorry kid business isn’t personal and it isn’t honest
@@nicholasapodaca9886
The same can apply if let's say they change the collective agreement without negotiation.
Unions are so needed! I have been thinking about this and the ways that it could have helped us out in the middle of the hard slowdown and the greed that has really helped us to be able to see how much everyone was played.
Bot comment
@Gerard LaFontaine honestly I think you are the bot now. I'm not sure what you think about my comment isn't true but I'd love to have a good idea of how you think the situation is going to improve and if you are interested in getting to see the whole industry in a healthy position to thrive and grow wealth at all levels of the business instead of what is happening and what did happen.
I am sure that unless you're only looking for your own personal wealth and your business is not a front end of service that's the only one that can be able to make money in your area or is the best-selling for your area, that you would be able to benefit from the industry going forward with the same stuff as the country always treats the AG industry workforce.... that you would be able to make a healthy and prosperous life for yourself and your family and your business as a whole lot of reforms and a lot more union protection is a good way to make it so that the market isn't as exclusive to get into at the part making the most money, and have a lot more of the blackmarket that hasn't gone away and will be a good chunk of the industry as well as keeping everyone in the middle of using a lot of black market sales to make ends meet and getting a lot more of a variety of the products and the way you can grow your business and make sure to keep the law on your side and keep your employees happy and keep them around without having to get to fuck over the people who are making the product for you and make you have a great way to get the product to consumers who aren't even interested in buying from the legal industry's prices and how much they're going to shift to produce their own personal and trade.
I would love to get a good schooling on this if it's wrong or what you think about the industry and how you would change it.
It's either make it a lot more regulated in a different way and including the growth of unions in the industry for everyone to get to benefit from or to deregulate the industry and make the product an inclusive thing that you can get into at the bottom floor and add value to the industry and to see the return in your time that you invest.
@@mattdouplesx Bot comment^
I was I the ibew for 40 years all they care about is dues paying members and what they can get from you smarten up people.
I've had really bad experiences with unions, hopefully y'all are different
Perhaps the unions didn't like you. You must have been an a** hole.
You take the good with the bad, but over all unions benefit the working class & makes a strong middle class.
Why else would gov & corporat spend so much fighting it?
@@jupitercyclops6521 you simply have to google the nations with the highest union participation and you will be shocked to find they are more prosperous, have a higher standard of living, public health care. nations like Norway Sweden Denmark, South Korea. I could go on and on.
@@johngillon6969 now that's an ill informed comment
@@d.cannuscio3151 explain your point
Could you also create an episode on how to get your union strong or quite being absent and comfy with management?
Just support your local growers
avoid all this corruption, stay away from any dispensaries .
Will somebody please point me to a union that tries to protect the next generation of workers... Those who are still in the womb?
The price of weed has collapsed...small growers are being run out of business by the corporate raiders...an ounce sold for $300/ounce now sells for $120/ounce...the electricity bill is far higher than what $120/ounce could bring in
Shizz your pants cuz in Oklahoma you can get three oz for a hundo Hahahaha And these dum fuks actually smoke that
I'm glad all the big money people came and ruined cannabis for the small growers and all of us who had to risk our freedom to keep the country smoking and are now disenfranchised.yay america
I proudly wear my cannabis teamster workers T-shirt for many years now. I make new friends because of it and clearly see who I need to stay away from because of their telling me. Support the cause and get the shirt and stickers. That's just a 1st step. Thank you for sharing this for the laborers, that help protect the patients with recreational.
My comments disappeared. Lets try this again...
I have a lover that is in a HIPPA protected and fully legal ketamine treatment here in the US.
I took part in peaceful antiwar protests as well as speaking against wto in Seattle. Conspiracy by government was proven there and can easily be looked up.
The government took our pictures and I am now on their watch list.
I have pictures too. Of me marching peacefully, with a legal authorization. I collected signatures from citizens to legalize cannabis, to protect the dying patents, and those murdered for their medication. And, those separated from mother and child by federal government. I witnessed a whole lot in those days. We opened the flood gates for other states but still federally illegal(tyranny). Prohibition creates corruption and death. Wealthy few and many slaves. I myself was tortured by feds, treated inhumanely, at least 3 of my constitutional rights violated by border patrol while traveling home to help my now deceased mother pass more easily. My government traumatized my family there, I now suffer from ptsd and paranoia. Who was the victims there???
Most will not believe, even with recorded events. I lived it. I was there. And, I will not stop fighting for others, until my last dying breath, no matter what they gonna say, plant, accuse, defame, or torture me with. I have died already, more than once. I will sacrifice myself for the higher purpose of others. Come hell or highwater.
Sending love and luck 🍀
I wonder what Jimmy Hoffa would think about this I say he would say hell yea
They'll want 30 bucks an hour to trim a bud 😂
I get $60/hr to screw pipes together 🤌😂
Yes! Workers need to democratize the marijuana industry! WE do the work. WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Workers need to take over operations and lock out the companies by withholding labour, just seen a European group do it with their factory and now produce products they want to✌ ...
Brilliant topic and coverage! Smart and righteous!
I also work in the industry (post harvest) in New Jersey. Currently under union negotiations with UFCW and corporate is cleaning house. It will be our first contract and negotiations have been going on for a year. We're almost across the finish line but I have to admit, it is such a corporate nightmare creating a toxic survival of the fittest environment. The lawyers representing my employer in negotiations are the same firm that represented the railroad companies in depriving workers of time off.
Im in a great state that will unfortunately be last, but maybe South Carolina may be last🤣
Somehow people thought "because weed" the job wouldn't require effort... It's farming, farmers work hard, 365 days a year and barely get paid. Welcome to the real world.
The real world needs changed including the farming industry
REFRESHING!
Unions do not help the people. Labour laws already exist. The main reason the companies are struggling and not paying as much as they could is because they're oversaturating the market and have to pay the government a fortune for licensing. Unions would not help. They are notorious for protecting bad workers and holding back good ones. Part time workers end up with most of their pay garnished in union dues, while the union leaders only care about lobbying for pet projects and tied into the massive government scheme. If you care about people, never push for unionizing. The only ones helped are those running the union. When they get more money they don't put it into the workers, they hire more workers which cuts into everyone's hours. Less than full time wages and they don't have to let you have the full benefits even though you're losing money hand over fist from dues. Also, until you look into all the expenses involved, and how a raise would effect not only the business but the price of goods, the only thing these raises do is further the inflation cycle.
If you want to help, start targeting inflation and push for things which will lower it, causing your money to stretch further. Don't push for things that will just mean higher prices, more unemployment and the eventual need for yet another raise to keep up with the inflation you're encouraging in the first place. Push for the government to lower the licensing fee and taxes so that the businesses can afford higher wages without having to compensate through price hikes and layoffs.
BETTER YET, GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY. NO GOVERNMENT OR UNIONS NECESSARY TO TAKE A CUT. 13 YEAR OLDS RAN THE INDUSTRY SUCCESSFULLY FOR A CENTURY AND THAT WAS WITH THE GOVERNMENT HUNTING THEM DOWN. JUST LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE AND THEY CAN SELL AND SMOKE WEED THEMSELVES.
I got my MED badge to work in the cannabis industry in Colorado, but never wound up using it because all the jobs were either shitty retail, or working in a grow house, all for about $12-15/hr. All the workers are getting ripped off, while the cannabis companies consolidate and making soaring profits.
HELL NO
That's one way to drive the prices back up for the consumer
Grew up in a union family and knew nothing about them? She's not terribly bright.
Yeah, to help keep everyone fairly working and payed with also "sick payed leave added too" like the US railroads unions (who aren't)?😂
Let the corruption expand some more.
Do you really think organized crime can be unionized?
You should perhaps look up definition of syndicate...
@@ericbergeron7658 why? Is there a difference?
Drug dealers unite!
Pot smoking does influence your ability to think clearly, clean yourself up dress appropriately ie. like a professional, stop dying your hair like a freak clown show, when I walk through depot or walmart and others and I smell the pot smoke just radiating from these employees that tells me the employees don't respect the customers and then they walk around talking to themselves, now these are good employees, bad employees make hard working employees look bad
Judgemental arrogance actually influences your ability to think clearly.
It's awesome that the Teamsters are representing the working man/woman in the booming cannabis industry! People need to understand, the greatest threat to "we the people" isn't a soldier wearing a foreign military uniform or needless to say, the poor homeless population within our borders. The real threat to "we the people" wear $5000 taylor made suits, hold positions of political office within the government and sit as fat cats on Wall Street! Look at what the enemy just did to our financial system worldwide! The worst of which I speak are federal judges as they have no fear of being prosecuted, so when the price is right, they rule in the favor of the fat man dancing while the thin man pays the band. Don't believe me? I recommend researching what a federal judge receives for a government pension. We the people are enslaved to the masters of illusion AKA the foreign banking system of the world. Right on guys, fight to beat hell, literally.
Dispensaries are overpriced. What a joke.
The guy should get the mole taken off his eyebrow. He is handsome other then that wart or mole.
Well here in fl. A cart is a 100$ for one gram cart.
$20 in Michigan
Goddamn, that's highway robbery.
@@ericcarabetta1161 yep yiu can only buy bud an 1/8 no 1/4s no halfs no oz. Only by the 8th. You can buy 10 of them but cant get it in one package. At 40 an 8th snd the shit is weak
@@stevenhiggins3331 I can get lb's for $1500 all day of 20+% all day everyday....
FEDERALLY LEGALIZE CANNABIS N🪴W
All drugs!.... Look how legalizing weed drove prices down and as a result it is no longer smuggled across our border because there isn't any profit in it.... Same would happen with cocaine and heroin except cannot be grow here....
Instead of more laws. How about telling government to stay out of your business.
It would still be a state's right to decide