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About 40 medical marijuana industry employees joined with the Teamsters Local 70 in Oakland, California earlier this month, ratifying a contract after their employer recognized their union without interference. These employees are different from those of medical marijuana dispensaries who joined with UFCW Local 5. The newest Teamster members are those who tend to plants at a medical marijuana management company.
The workers are trimmers, gardeners and cloners. Cloners clone different strains of marijuana, depending on its medical needs, said Lou Marchetti, the business agent for Local 70, which organized the workers and negotiated the contract. Marjyn Investments provides medical marijuana used by patients suffering from cancer, HIV and other life threatening illnesses.
Rome Aloise, President of Joint Council 7 and Western Region Vice President, praised the work of Local 70.
“The Local was approached by these workers to organize and Local 70 accomplished this goal very quickly,” Aloise said. “The Teamsters will provide these workers with the best representation possible.”
Marty Frates, Local 70 Secretary-Treasurer, credited Marchetti for obtaining a recognition agreement with the full cooperation and support of the company, enabling the workers to obtain a contract very quickly.
“These workers are highly educated and dedicated to helping people with very serious illnesses,” Frates said. “Lou was able to negotiate for them a very good first contract.”
Under the two-year contract, the company will pay for the workers’ health care costs. The workers will receive pensions under the Western Conference of Pensions Fund, and their wages, currently at $18 an hour, will increase to $25.75 an hour within 15 months. They also get 10 paid holidays and 60 hours of personal time per year.
“The company expects to expand and hopes to have about 150 employees,” Marchetti said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever organize medical marijuana providers, but this is an expanding industry in California.”
No word yet on if the Teamsters organization will endorse Proposition 19, but organizing workers in this growing industry is a big step forward. Like I said yesterday: marijuana legalization is an issue for working people.
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wow! rollin’, rollin’ rollin, keep that big mo rollin’ yo-ho !
forgive me Michael, still a little giddy from the Repubs-In-Disarray fest last night
from Lisa Derrick’s HempCon Post -
this little dfh is waaay out of touch with how potentially big this is
ah, Oakland 70, – my very first union card ! good to see their longstanding willingness to look outside the usual trades for membership (we were Flight Attendants) continues – rock on, my sisters and brothers, rock on
Hey, Cbl2. While I too am happy to see the party splitting it’s normal votes with the tea party, I am also very leery that some of our own want to do the same thing with the Democratic party, even tho we know that the Rethugs are trying to help to split Dems up by financially supporting the Greens when they think it will work. Tea Party is concerned with party purity. There are those in our ranks that consider punishing the Dems for not being pure enough ideologically (ie, not progressive enough) also. Personally, I don’t think the outcomes will be very pretty at all for anybody.
It certainly is. Can’t work (and pay taxes) if you’re in the slammer because of a pot bust.
Wow! I get my pension from Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Fund! Defined benefit plan even tho my ex’s union dues paid for that benefit. Also, from what I see above, that certainly appears to be one of those “high paying” jobs bandied about by pols.
Look for the union label
When you’re buying a lid, ounce, or pound…!
tried to respond to your comment by clicking on your FB icon – but it took me to my home page – got a better link ?
David Dayen has a fresh cross-post available: DE-Sen: GOP Deserts Primary Victor O’Donnell as Coons Takes Big Lead
No, I just usually hit “Reply”, but if you’re trying to get to my Facebook page, I believe you’re on my friends list, no? So go to your friends list and hit on my name?
Shows how dangerous legalization could be; these stoner criminals clearly don’t know how to run a business properly…you know, like the Chamber of Commerce would.
I hear ya, Ann! Even reminding people that it didn’t work in 2000 (or in 1930s Germany) doesn’t seem to be enough for some folks. You would think that they’d realize that the teabaggers are hurting the GOP precisely because the teabaggers are the Republican base and are forcing the party as a whole farther to the right and unelectability in the quest for purity.
With the Teamsters, as mainstream a group as ever there could be, backing this, I think we can see the writing on the wall.
Love that!
Why fear it? Splitting these parties can only be a good thing. In my lifetime, I’ve watched these same two parties control government for thirty years and nothing good has come of it.
Made in America!
It’s fine to disagree, but I want to set one record straight.
This is NOT about punishing Dems. It’s about voting for candidates that espouse policies and positions that you mostly agree with, and then if they do but then when elected act differently, they should be held accountable for their lies.
So, voting against incumbant D’s is about holding them accountable for running a progressive campaign and then governing conservatively. If we don’t hold them accountable for that, then there’s no reason in the world why they won’t do it again. And again. And again.
Also, since we’ve seen how the D party is governing, it’s easy to vote for someone else, since in a Democracy we’re supposed to vote for candidates that we mostly agree with instead of candidates we mostly disagree with. You’re certainly not suggesting we should vote for candidates with whom we vehemently disagree with are you?? Why not vote Republican then, since I vehemently disagree with them.
But I also disagree with 90% of everything the Dems have done. From enshrining the for profit health insurance industry into the health care model forever to assassinating American citizens, I vehemently disagree with those. And yes the entire Democratic Party IS responsible for all of those continuation of Bush policies that Obama has pursued. The Constitution gives the Congress checks and balances over the Executive and the D party CHOOSES to allow BHO to assassinate Americans, indefinitly hold people without habeas corpus, etc. etc. etc.
I disagree with the continuation of either war, much less both. Etc.
So, as you can see, for me, I can’t support the D party because I vehemently disagree with their policies. Not because I’m “punishing” them. I hope no one here is suggesting folks should support people or parties with whom we disagree with on 90% of their policies. I can’t believe that.
Keeping our eyes on the prize: Register to vote.
Tell your father, tell your mother, tell your sister, tell your brother…
Just google your state name and the phrase “voter registration”. You’ve got to register well in advance of election day; it only takes five minutes (even if you have to download a form and take it downtown, it’s well worth the effort). All of these links use the usual h t t p : / / w w w prefix:
In California:
sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm or to vote by mail
sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_m.htm
And a few other states:
Vermont
vermont-elections.org/elections1/registertovote.html
South Dakota:
sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/registrationvoting.shtm
Arizona:
Voter info:
azsos.gov/election/VoterInformation.htm
Register: azsos.gov/election/voterregistration.htm
Michigan: michigan.gov/documents/MIVoterRegistration_97046_7.pdf
Oregon: oregonvotes.org/votreg/vreg.htm
Others: Google your state name and “voter registration.”
COLLEGE STUDENTS: You can usually register as a citizen of either your hometown or your college residence town. Share the voter registration info through your student newspaper, twitter, etc.
Everybody: Most states allow early voting and/or vote-by-mail, so once you’re registered, go ahead and request a ballot (at the voter info site for your state). Save a trip to the polls and get it done while you’re thinking about it.
5 minutes. Change the world. Share the links.