THE NASCENT CANNABIS INDUSTRY in Rhode Island is expanding quickly and attracting the attention of a national union best known for organizing supermarket workers.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has signed a labor peace agreement with the owner of Ocean State Cultivation Center in Warwick. The agreement is seen as opening a door to unionization of the local industry.
Labor officials say what is now a medical-marijuana market in Rhode Island, and which could be opened to recreational marijuana, has a growing workforce in need of union protections.
The labor peace agreement is essentially a pledge by a company owner not to interfere in unionization efforts. In exchange, workers generally agree to not disrupt production, such as through a strike. The agreements are common on large construction projects.
This is the first one inked with the cannabis industry in Rhode Island, according to Timothy Melia, president of the UFCW Local 328, which represents about 10,000 food industry workers in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
“Usually most employers don’t agree to labor peace agreements,” Melia said. “Most of them are going to fight you tooth and nail every step of the way. This employer is saying, ‘I have no problem with the union coming in. That’s a decision that’s left up to the employees.’ ”
Ocean State Cultivation Center is owned by Magnolia RI Ltd., a company whose managing member, David Spradlin, also owns a cultivation center in Sacramento, Calif. He has long supported union rights, according to a spokeswoman, Caity Maple.
The Warwick cultivation center has five full-time employees, she said, although that number is expected to grow. They are paid between $15 and $16 an hour, Maple said.
“We believe when you invest in your employees, you get that back tenfold,” she said.
Local 328 officials declined to talk about plans to organize workers at other Rhode Island cultivation centers.
The unionization of workers in the cannabis industry is common in some states, such as California and Colorado, as well as New Jersey and New York, according to Melia.
But other heavyweights, such as the Teamsters and United Farm Workers of America, are also unionizing the industry, according to their websites and media coverage.
In Rhode Island, the industry is growing quickly. The state now has 49 licensed cultivation centers, most of them approved in the past 10 months, according to the R.I. Department of Business Regulation.
The state has authorized an expansion in so-called “compassion centers” from three to nine, where medical-marijuana users can purchase products. A proposal by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo this year to legalize recreational marijuana failed to gain General Assembly approval.
Sam Marvin, an organizer for UFCW 328, said as the industry grows, workers should have their say. “We want workers to have a voice on the job, making sure it’s safe, making sure they have a voice in the future,” he said.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
