The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 27 is setting the record straight regarding representing cannabis employees working at TerrAscend USA Services LLC's Apothecarium dispensary in Salisbury, Md.
While the union fights for a first labor contract with the company, there have been deliberate and inappropriate attempts to spark confusion and spread misinformation among the employees that the union no longer represents these employees or no longer wants to represent these employees. Despite false claims in the workplace, Local 27 remains the duly elected and federally recognized representative of these workers and will continue to fight to protect these hardworking employees' rights and to come to terms with a fair labor contract.
"For the last year, Local 27 has been fighting to secure what would be one of the strongest contracts for TerrAscend workers anywhere in the country," Local 27 President Jason Chorpenning said. "Immediately after the employees overwhelmingly voted for Local 27 to be their representative in a National Labor Relations Board election, we informed the company we were ready to bargain a first labor contract. Instead of respecting the process, TerrAscend engaged in what we consider delay tactics, stall tactics and relentless union busting."
While TerrAscend's stock value has fallen dramatically this week alone (currently trading around 38 cents), the company has found a way to retain costly, self-professed union busters rather than use those funds to invest in the workers who generate more than $1 million per month in revenue at the company's Salisbury location.
Workers earning as little as $16.33 per hour generate the profits that support lavish salary packages for company executives, including the CEO's salary, which is reported to be more than $1.7 million a year. TerrAscend does this while denying a fair bargaining process to rank-and-file employees who overwhelmingly voted to unionize.
© UFCW Local 27
Local 27 has been informed that employees are pressured into signing anti-union petitions through what the union believes are deceit, misinformation and outright lies, all aimed to rob the workers of their power.
"Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated," Chorpenning said. "Workers have been misled for weeks, but our commitment has not changed. Workers deserve their federally protected right to finish bargaining this contract and to build a better life."
Workers at the Salisbury Apothecarium now understand they were misinformed and that they remain fully represented by Local 27. The union remains committed to ensuring TerrAscend meets its legal obligations and returns to bargaining in good faith.
"These workers break their backs every day, and they deserve dignity, respect and a fair contract, not manipulation," Chorpenning said. "We have never stopped fighting for them and never will."
For more information:
UFCW
www.ufcw.org
