MJ Biz: Teamsters allege cannabis store EMBR paid ‘sham’ union to avoid labor organizing

A major national labor union is jumping into a San Diego-area cannabis store’s legal challenge to California’s labor-friendly licensing requirement.

It’s the second time the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has requested to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the state’s labor peace agreement (LPA) requirement, but the union’s June 20 filing in U.S. District Court in Southern California also suggests more nefarious forces are at play.

These include a “pattern and practice of behavior” to evade state law as well an arrangement where marijuana companies pay to sign weak labor agreements with “sham” unions that have no intention of organizing workers or signing contracts, according to court filings.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) said the agency had no comment on the litigation.

Labor-friendly law, fake unions

California law requires any cannabis business with 20 or more employees to sign an LPA with a “bona fide labor union” or risk losing its state license.

An LPA is a document in which a company agrees not to dissuade workers from organizing with a union.

In return, the union agrees not to interrupt business while recruiting workers to organize with the union and to pursue a contract, a process that can take years.