Forced unionization possible outcome in efforts to organize Illinois’ cannabis workers

[March 30, 2021]  By Greg Bishop

(The Center Square) – Efforts are underway across the state to unionize around 16,000 workers in Illinois’ legal cannabis industry.

If successful, employees not wanting to join the union could be fired.

Moises Zavala organizes for the United Food and Commercial Workers. He said workers see reported cannabis sales in the hundreds of millions and employers need to “be a good neighbor.”

“They need to not just invest but include them in the planning for the future and the best way to do that is to make sure that there are real careers in the industry,” Zavala said.

Several cannabis business groups declined to comment on the effort.

If Illinois’ cannabis retail workers unionize and get a contract with their cannabis employers, the pay and benefits will outweigh the weekly $6 union fee taken out of their pay, he said.

“Six dollars in dues obviously becomes insignificant compared to the wages and benefits union members get,” Zavala said.

There were also concerns he said that stem from protections for workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Right to Work Foundation’s Patrick Semmens said Illinois isn’t a “right-to-work” state, which he said doesn’t protect the employees’ choice of whether to join a union if one forms at their shop.

“It lets union officials basically threaten their jobs and say ‘pay up or be fired,' ” Semmens said.

In this Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, photo, the cannabis flower is trimmed at Revolution Global's cannabis cultivation center in Delavan, Illinois.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

The UFCW has joined with the Service Employees International Union to organize jobs at cultivation centers, craft growers, infusers, dispensing and lab testing organizations. Moises said the unions helped drum up support for the state’s medical program years ago and the state’s adult-use program that was implemented last year.

The Chicago Tribune reported in February, 40 employees of a dispensary in Chicago ratified a union contract. That followed 180 unionized employees of a Cresco Labs cultivation center in Joliet ratifying a contract in December.

A vote of employees for shops in Chicago and Springfield will be counted on April 20.

Semmens said Illinois law allows employees to be forced into a union if approved by a simple majority of those voting.

“Even though a majority of the overall workers didn’t even vote, yet that gives the union the power to ultimately force those workers to pay dues or be fired,” Semmens said.

Illinois does not prohibit forced union fees in private-sector jobs, which means cannabis workers who don’t want to pay union dues could still have to pay union fees as a condition of employment.

Such provisions were struck down for public sector employees in the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME that originated out of Illinois.