OLNEY, Md. (September 11, 2024) – On Thursday, September 12, workers at Sweetspot cannabis dispensary in Olney, Md. will hold a rally ahead of their union election on Friday.
| What: | Rally with Sweetspot Olney cannabis workers |
| When: | 4:20 p.m., Thursday, September 12, 2024 |
| Where: | Sweetspot Cannabis Dispensary Olney
18070 Georgia Ave, Olney, MD 20832 |
The workers are outraged over retaliation against union supporters by Sweetspot management. In an egregious example, the company took a chair away from a pregnant employee who supports the union.
“Ever since learning we were organizing a union, Sweetspot has put new policies in place that discriminate against me, like refusing to allow me to sit while working,” explained Kai Brock, who is pregnant. “They’ve begun punishing me for being a few minutes late by taking away my right to reception. Now they call sitting a ‘privilege.’ This was never an issue before we filed for our union election. When I could no longer bear the pain and tried to sit down they took the chair from me. Taking away a chair to retaliate against a pregnant employee who wants a union is just plain wrong.”
A union election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board is scheduled for Sweetspot workers on Friday, September 13.
Last month, workers at Sweetspot were joined by the staff of The Apothecarium Burtonsville in announcing plans to unionize with UFCW Local 400. This week, both dispensaries are holding union votes. The workers are joined by other cannabis dispensaries in the region that have recently unionized, including: the Apothecarium location in Cumberland, Md.; Green Goods in Rockville, Md.; Story Cannabis in Mechanicsville, Md.; Potomac Holistics in Rockville, Md.; Zen Leaf in Germantown, Md. and Zen Leaf in Towson, Md.; PharmaCann Verilife Dispensary in Westminster, Md.; and MaryMed, LLC in Hurlock, Md., among others.
For more information on UFCW’s work across the cannabis industry, visit ufcw.org/cannabis.
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United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 is led by President Mark Federici and represents 35,000 members working in the grocery, retail, cannabis, health care, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. www.ufcw400.org