Today, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 328, the union for 11,000 Rhode Island and Massachusetts workers, announced a one-day strike was held on Saturday, June 26, by the recently unionized cannabis workers at Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center to protest the CEO Seth Bock’s illegal retaliatory firing of an employee this week who is part of the worker committee at the company negotiating the first union contract for employees.
Greenleaf CEO Bock terminated the employee without due process and without just cause. The employees at Greenleaf voted unanimously to authorize the strike, demonstrating their solidarity in calling for the reinstatement of their co-worker and their commitment to ending the pattern of retaliatory behavior by their CEO.
“We want to first recognize our patients and thank them for the support we have received throughout this process of unionizing. We understand that this action may have disrupted some people’s ability to purchase their medicine, which is something we take very seriously. As workers, we strive to provide the highest quality services and products that we can, because we believe in cannabis and its medicinal benefits.
Over these past few weeks, ownership at Greenleaf has continued to make decisions that impede us from providing that quality of work. After the wrongful termination of one of our best team members, we collectively decided that we had no choice but to take this action.
We’re proud to work in this industry and will continue to stand together in solidarity as we progress towards our goal of negotiating a contract that helps in establishing a standard within our dispensary that supports our growth as professionals and helps bring the focus of our work back to the people that matter the most, our patients.
