The Guardian: Eaze Supervisors Earning Less Than Workers Because Company Won't Let Them Unionize

Things don’t seem to be going well at Eaze

The Guardian

The largest cannabis delivery service in the US faces a growing backlash in southern California from shift supervisors who said they are paid less than the workers they supervise, struggle to make ends meet on low and stagnant wages, and are at odds with the company over their right to form a union.

Nearly 600 delivery drivers at Eaze in California voted to unionize in 2023 with the United Food and Commercial Workers, and secured a first contract earlier this year after threatening to strike in April.

More of the firm’s workers have unionized this year – an additional 100 drivers and staff at other California depots joined UFCW Local 770, while drivers in Sacramento unionized in March with the Teamsters – but shift supervisors have been left in limbo.

Supervisors at Eaze are awaiting decisions from the National Labor Relations Board. While the company has argued they are unable to form a union because they are in management roles, workers claimed they should be allowed to unionize due to low pay and a lack of authority.

Eaze has been plagued by financial troubles. Its assets were sold at public auction to an unidentified buyer last month. For now, the company claims it is unable to make changes to workers’ pay.

“I am not making enough money to survive,” said one shift supervisor at Eaze in the Los Angeles area, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “I’m on food stamps, but those benefits have started to decrease. I can’t afford to repair my car if it needs it. I can’t afford to eat out. And I’m not the only person that’s going through these kinds of financial problems.”

Workers said their most recent pushes for raises to the company have gone ignored, with staff receiving no annual wage increases.

“The number we were asking for was $27 an hour,” the shift supervisor recalled, “but we were planning on negotiating down to $25 an hour plus a yearly wage structure. Because, as it is right now, we are functionally running the depots.