Employees of High Profile dispensary in Columbia seek unionization

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Several employees of High Profile dispensary in Columbia are seeking to unionize. On Tuesday, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. 

According to the NLRB’s website, 33 employees are eligible to be represented by UFCW Local 655, according to the National Labor Relations Board. However, the documents were later removed. According to High Profile employee Dan Lessiack, 22 of the 33 employees signed the union card.

A union card is filled out by pro-union workers during a representation campaign and specifies the union they want to use as a collective bargaining agent. The NLRB requires at least 30% of the employees to sign the card to conduct an election.

In an email sent to ABC 17 News, UFCW Local 655 spokesman Collin Reischman claims the total was “more than enough cards signed to file for election.” Reischman added that the High Profile employees “heard about our big win at Shangri-La and immediately reached out and expressed interest.” 

In October, 10 Shangri-La employees who lost their jobs for trying to organize a union received back pay plus interest after the NLRB ruled in favor of Local 655. 

UFCW Local 655 President Dave Cook praised the decision, calling it a win for the workers. He believes other cannabis workers across the state will follow suit. Cook also told ABC 17 News that High Profile workers reached out to them as soon as the news of the settlement broke. 

“We were bombarded by communications by High Profile workers,” Cook said. 

Cook added that after they reached out the union reached out to employees individually to make sure they understood what a campaign looks like. Lessiack told ABC 17 News that the employees had already begun their plans to organize even before the Shangri-La news broke.  

"It's a highly sought after job in a relatively new industry so it leaves room for corporations to do what they want," Lessiack said. "I am a single father and I want to be able to accommodate for my family."

The union’s goal is to help organize the cannabis industry and not just individual dispensaries. 

“This industry is becoming very notorious, unfortunately, for treating it’s workers, hard-working quality workers, with disrespect. Belittling them and if you don’t like that we’re terminating you” Cook said. “I think that’s the biggest part of this campaign is letting them know you can have defined wages, defined benefits and protections on the job.” 

UCFW Local 665 will now apply for recognition for High Profile, a request that Cook believes will be denied. If that is the case the employees will have a secret ballot election within the next 30-45 days to determine if they want to be recognized by the union. All UCFW Local 665 is a simple majority. 

Once the election results are certified then employees can begin bargaining with UFCW. According to Cook, when Shangri-La workers first applied for recognition, the company began threatening and intimidating employees. The union hopes the NLRB’s recent ruling will lead to High Profile not attempting the same tactics. 

ABC 17 News spoke with Sierra, a union organizer at High Profile who said the store's management had no idea the employees had this planned. It was brought to their attention on Wednesday after employees have been organizing this for about three months under the radar from management.

Sierra said when High Profile went recreational, they saw higher profits, more foot traffic, but no pay increases.

She also says part-time and full-time employees make the same amount, which she brought to store and upper management's attention. It was met with no response.

“I would think this would be a very progressive industry to be in because we all have to be like-minded about cannabis, at the very least, and it just turns out that it is corporate greed is not safe from the cannabis industry either”

Union advocates at High Profile have been working closely with UCFW Local 665 to make sure all their voices are heard.

“Through a lot of research and a lot of trust, so much trust, we’ve been able to like agree that collectively, were not going to be heard until we are speaking as one and the only way we can speak as one is in a union,” Sierra said.