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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** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
A Union for pot heads. Unfucking believable
Great show. Thanks for sharing this!
I wonder what Jimmy Hoffa would think about this I say he would say hell yea
Stay strong fellow workers!!!💪ðŸ¼
Grew up in a union family and knew nothing about them? She's not terribly bright.
They'll want 30 bucks an hour to trim a bud 😂
That's one way to drive the prices back up for the consumer
We need one at PTS real bad southern Illinois 😫
Hallelujah, praise and glory be to Jesus Christ our lord, for Big Pharma’s lies and bribery are failing, those whom they have deceived in order yo reap profits from their patented drugs are waking up to the truth. Cannabis in moderation is safe and salubrious and it was banned by racist liars.
I pray to God that my union, IBEW local 51, will also wake up and start getting involved in this revolution that is bringing justice to the needy and righteousness to the poor. Amen
the worst people are taking over the cannabis industry.
Yeah, to help keep everyone fairly working and payed with also "sick payed leave added too" like the US railroads unions (who aren't)?😂
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.
The guy should get the mole taken off his eyebrow. He is handsome other then that wart or mole.
20:47….Pilots suffer the same plight. They love to fly….so they sacrifice to do so.
I'm soon to be 59. I raised my 3 alone over a 30 yr span. I've worked on both sides v the tracks, yet nvr managed to afford peace.
I went from min.wage jobs and voc school to administrative jobs, then to construction svs and now maintenance work at a housing authority. Our renters are either single mothers and children or elderly. I've been here 3yrs. My daughter and 2 grandbabies live there. I'm partial to the people.. I interact with them regularly. I took a cut in pay to be there, thinking in a few years, they wld value my service more. I started at 10hr and 3yrs on I make 11.94hr. Seems my raises coincide with Social Security cost v living increases..lol. Not on my merit at all. Im a 59 yr old woman who lives meagerly..even by choice. No retirement for me…tho my superiors can opt in…my check doesnt cover me for the 2 weeks I stretch them. No car note or the like. Simple rent elect phone veh. ins food.
Was scraping by but one small set back (unpaid leave to attend grandmother's funeral) back in October set me back and on top v this….wonderful insurance they nearly pay more for than my wage… No dental. I'm helplessly watching my smile crumble with no known remedy. I now weigh 88lbs and realize the stress v surviving is killing me. I see myself like these elderly tenants I serve. Without options. I defend them, so I had to sign a paper stating I had to refuse gifts and fraternizing with the tenants. The ladies bake pies and share homemade sauces and jellies they are even more delicious now..😉ðŸ‘
Boss is jealous maybe?
Anyway. I work hard physically, and I'm trying to find a less grueling way to earn my living. It's not legal in my lone star state, but I too believe in the gift v cannabis. It allows me to smile still….tho soon I will be too embarrassed to. I work. I dont waste my resources. Breaks my heart to think I will nvr know how it feels to know I'm gonna be alright. Sorry to explode on here. Thank you for the platform to vent. I just felt acknowledged in your report, so I want to return the kindness by acknowledging your Noble Network. Long time Chris Hedges fan.
HELL NO
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.
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.
Unionization… created after slavery to assure that former slaves did not get hired.
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.
The UNIONS are not the answer, I've been there done that, and I can tell you first hand they do nothing to protect good hard working employees, if you don't vote for a certain political party they retaliate against you, the unions get in the pockets of the politicians and the politicians get in the pockets of the unions, in fact there needs to be strict legislation that enforces the law to separate politics and the unions, it's legal money Laundering
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
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.
Let the corruption expand some more.
Medical yes… Commercial greed knows no limits.
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
Unions are the Democrat Party 🥳 🎉 Keep your Distance !
Did the Teamsters stand up for the Trucker Convoy? Where did the stand on the jabs? Just another corrupt Mafia Union. Get seeds and grow your own. This is not good and will ruin marijuana even more.
Dispensaries are overpriced. What a joke.
I'm a Teamster ( 213 ) and I believe that joining Teamsters will benefit cannabis workers !
Just support your local growers
avoid all this corruption, stay away from any dispensaries .
Unions are liberal trash.
Drug dealers unite!
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.
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.
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
Your so called Unions work for the Duopoly NOT the rank and file. Endorsing the Democrats proves you stink like the cesspool you choose to swim in!
Bullshit discourse … if one speaks to someone like Derrick Jensen, we get to know that Marijuana has lost it's folk and peasant status. It has been sequestered to industrial size farming and total profit maximisation policy. Hence union or no union, the booming profits are for the investors and not workers. Be it Aguacate or Marijuana or Tofu or any cash crop, no amount of unionizing works. Also Unionizing has nothing to say about land use and abuse. Unionization of cash crops been seen widely failed across latin america, where all such crops already grew (and continuous to grow) in massive amounts. Also these left leaning shamans, never worked one day in any field, of marijuana nor any crop. Hence yacking away old useless schemes for no good.
Brilliant topic and coverage! Smart and righteous!
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.
I think it should be 1199 not Teamsters
Imagine if the federal government would obey the 9th and 10th amendment and admit drugs are LAWFUL. The drug lords would have no customers and the jails would not be filled with innocent people. But who cares about the constitution?
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.
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
Piss on unions.
Yes! Workers need to democratize the marijuana industry! WE do the work. WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
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!!
F*** your heinously backwards and destructive marijuana industry. No means no
Thank you for this superb report!