Pot Workers In Joliet, Niles Seek Higher Pay, Strike In Solidarity

JOLIET, IL — For months, workers at three Illinois cannabis dispensaries — including two in Joliet — had called on a company that reported more than $1 billion in revenue last year — to repay them in the form of better compensation by wearing green pins to work demanding a fair contract.

The pins, which include the image of a marijuana cigarette, were worn by dispensary employees to show the solidarity between more than 100 workers at three RISE dispensaries in Joliet and in Niles. Until this week, nothing had been said about the pins by executives with Green Thumb Industries, which operates the three dispensaries.

But, according to union members, when workers at the Niles RISE location were forced to remove the pins this week, the solidarity that extends from the Northwest suburb to Joliet led the workers to walk away from their jobs at 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday — the day before pot "holiday" 4/20 — as workers began an unfair labor practice strike they say will continue until their demands are met.

Union officials said Friday that employees do not want to strike, but the move became necessary after workers felt like executives from Green Thumb Industries betrayed them by ignoring their calls for better pay and retirement benefits.

“(A strike) was absolutely necessary,” Julie Evans, who has worked at the company’s RISE Rock Creek Joliet location for three years, told Patch on Friday. “We had to let the company know that this unfair labor practice was more than just ‘take your pin off.’ It was a mockery of us as employees.

“We’re going to stand in solidarity, and we’re not going to let them boss us around like they have in the past.”

The strike marks the first time in Illinois history that three cannabis dispensaries have hit the picket lines at the same time, union officials said. Workers are seeking better wages and retirement benefits as part of the new contract, officials said this week.

RISE has Joliet locations in the 2900 block of Colorado Avenue and in the 1600 block of Rock Creek Avenue, along with a Niles location in the 9600 block of North Milwaukee Avenue. The workers, who are part of Teamsters Local 777, are part of a group of 100 employees who work at the three local dispensaries, according to Matt McQuaid, the spokesman for the union.

McQuaid said that there are more than 500 Teamsters Local 777 employees across Illinois. McQuaid told Patch that by bonding together to strike, RISE employees are setting the environment for what the cannabis industry needs to look like going forward. He called unions crucial to the cannabis industry in an effort to avoid the “Uberization” of the industry as a whole.

“We don’t want cannabis to be an industry where workers are treated like cogs in a machine where these jobs are low pay, churn and burn,” McQuaid told Patch. “Having cannabis being an industry where people can stay in it for a long time and how it being a prosperous, long-term career is good for the workers, it’s good for the consumers, it’s good for the business.

“What workers are doing by going on this unfair labor practice strike is setting that standard that could carry not just through the industry, not just through Illinois, but through the country.”

In a news release, Local 777 President Jim Glimco said workers at the Niles dispensary were forced to remove the pro-union pins they were wearing at work.

“The company’s demand that the workers remove their pins is part of a broader pattern of disrespect to their workforce,” Glimco said. “GTI is refusing to offer these men and women wages commensurate with the cost of living, or retirement package that is acceptable for Teamsters. It’s far past time this company recognizes the people responsible for all of the success it’s had.”

Evans said that the company forcing employees to remove the pins was the last straw after workers felt like they were moving in the right direction for a new contract. Evans said she believed the two sides were making progress in ways that she admits that she didn’t envision, and that nothing had been said about workers wearing the pins as negotiations continued. Evans said the demand that employees remove their pins came just as discussions were heating up about compensation.

She said employees felt stonewalled by the company and that executives did not want workers to do anything "drastic." Evans characterized relations between workers and the company up until now as being professional, and said the union had been able to make “some great headway” in getting better pay.

But she said that changed when Green Thumb officials demanded that the pins calling for a fair contract come off, which prompted workers to walk away from their jobs on Wednesday afternoon. She said that things changed when the topic of better pay for workers came up, which changed the dynamic of the negotiations.

“It seems like we were talking to two different people at that point,” Evans told Patch on Friday.

Evans said she was in tears when she got off the phone with union officials after negotiations broke down. She said not only did she feel like the company was not living up to their word, but she also knew she had to report back to her fellow employees, alerting them to what had happened with the contract discussions.

“Seeing all the hurt faces and looks and body language. You could tell. It hurt all of us,” Evans said. “It hit all of us differently.”

Green Thumb Industries disputes workers' claims that there are unfair labor practices taking place at the three local dispensaries.

“Green Thumb respects the rights of our employees, including the fundamental right to organize and take protected concerted activity during negotiations,” the company said in an issued statement this week. “We made a fair offer to the union and will continue to work toward labor peace. During this time, we have made accommodations to continue our store operations to ensure our patients and customers can access the products they rely on for their well-being.”

Since workers began their strike this week, the company has kept the dispensaries open. Employees from the company’s corporate office in Chicago were sent to the three locations to allow the businesses to remain open.

The demand for better pay comes after Green Thumb Industries reported more than $1 billion in revenue last year, McQuaid said. The Cannabis Business Times reported this week that the revenue represents 14 percent year-over-year growth and $159 million in cash flow from operations.

Evans said the company is constantly sharing sales figures with employees but then, in turn, views employees as “just a number” when it comes to how much they are paid. Since Evans joined the company, it has undergone at least two different re-brandings, including last week when all the local stores were re-branded with new window decals and signage.

She said employees were forced to work through an “ill-planned, poorly cleaned up” operation, which she said left employees to come into work and breathe in construction dust and paint fumes.

But for workers that have seen the success stories of the benefits that medical marijuana and CBD products have had on those who rely on the RISE dispensaries, Evans said that having the company turn its back on workers as they did is too much to ignore. Evans said Friday that workers are willing to strike as long as necessary to get the attention of Green Thumb executives.

“We hope that the company is willing to see our fight,” she told Patch. “But we’ve learned that they have tunnel-vision, and you really have to put something under their noses for them to see it.”