A push by workers in a St. Louis marijuana facility to form a union could have national ramifications on labor law, with the company hoping to block their effort by asking the federal government to intervene.
At issue is a group of “post-harvest workers” at BeLeaf Medical’s Sinse cultivation facility in St. Louis. They have been trying to form a union since September but have thus far been blocked by their employer’s continuous legal challenges.
The company argues the employees at its Sinse facility don’t have the right to unionize because they’re considered agricultural workers.
Agricultural workers aren’t protected under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which ensures employees have the right to unionize without fear of retaliation.
Twice so far this year, National Labor Relations Board Regional Director Andrea Wilkes – who oversees a swath of six states in the Midwest — has ruled against BeLeaf’s argument.
BeLeaf filed a request for the national five-member board appointed by the president to review Wilkes’ decisions.
Legal experts, union officials and industry insiders interviewed by The Independent agree that whichever way the NLRB ultimately rules would have sweeping ramifications for the burgeoning industry across the nation.
“I know for a fact that people in these facilities are told ‘You’re ag workers. You don’t have any rights,’ no matter what position they are,” said Sean Shannon, lead organizer with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 655. “People won’t have to be in this gray area of doubt anymore about whether or not they can organize.”
Wilkes’ decision followed a similar ruling in September by another regional NLRB director in a case regarding some New Jersey post-harvest workers.
However, this would be the first time that the national board weighs in on the issue, setting a national legal precedent.
And that’s what BeLeaf is hoping for, the company said in its request to the NLRB.
“The legal cannabis cultivation industry is relatively new in the United States, and it is different from all previously analyzed agricultural industries,” the company argues.
“Accordingly, there is no officially reported board precedent and no reported judicial decisions to help establish where the line between agricultural and non-agricultural activities may be drawn in a particular situation.”
BeLeaf did not return The Independent’s repeated requests for comment.
Shannon said BeLeaf employees were not surprised to see the company’s appeal.
“We were expecting it,” he said. “The company made it very clear that they were going to fight us with every avenue they could. And they’re doing just that.”
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