Oakland Pot Club employees join UFCW Local 5

[Zeno Swijtink]

Oakland Pot Club Says Union, Yes!
Oaksterdam University employees join UFCW Local 5
(https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Oakland-Pot-Club-Says-Union-Yes-jw-95052719.html)By JACKSON WEST
Updated 5:37 PM PDT, Thu, May 27, 2010

At a ceremony hosted by Oakland City Council's Rebecca Kaplan, 100 employees at medical marijuana dispensary and education hub Oaksterdam University turned in their membership cards to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5.

It may well be the first union pot shop in the country, if not the world.

While it will help employees collectively bargain and resolve disputes with management, it also gives owner Richard Lee political allies with labor organizations.

Lee is responsible for the Tax Cannabis 2010 ballot measure, which would decriminalize recreational use of cannabis, which polls suggest has neatly divided California voters.

As legitimization of the multi-billion dollar business in marijuana could set the stage for a growth industry, one that UFCW is now in on the ground floor of. Which could help sway other growth-oriented unions like the Service Employees International Union.

Of course, police officer associations and the correctional officers union are unlikely to throw their support behind the ballot measure, since more drug arrests means more money and jobs for law enforcement and prisons.

It remains to be seen if the ballot measure will pick up a new string of labor endorsements, or whether it will pay off politically for the likes of Kaplan, who's running for Mayor of Oakland.

Jackson West loves it when labor and civil liberties meet, as in this case and that of San Francisco's worker-owned Lusty Lady.

[Valley Oak]

This is good news. It's normal to have a union.

This reminds me of the "pusher" strike in Christiania back in the 1990s. (Christiania is a self-declared "free state" inside the City of Copenhagen, Denmark.) It made international news throughout Europe because thousands of people, everyday, would travel to Christiania to buy their supply of marijuana. So, many more folks who depended on those buyers were also negatively impacted. Furthermore, when those thousands of people traveled from far away, they had to buy a substantial amount of weed so that it would last them until their next trip, maybe a year later or so. The pushers went on strike because they were being harassed too harshly and incessantly by the Danish police, who traditionally had been very tolerant. The strike essentially achieved its goal, at least for a while.



Oakland Pot Club Says Union, Yes!
Oaksterdam University employees join UFCW Local 5
(https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Oakland-Pot-Club-Says-Union-Yes-jw-95052719.html)By JACKSON WEST
Updated 5:37 PM PDT, Thu, May 27, 2010

At a ceremony hosted by Oakland City Council's Rebecca Kaplan, 100 employees at medical marijuana dispensary and education hub Oaksterdam University turned in their membership cards to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5.

It may well be the first union pot shop in the country, if not the world.

While it will help employees collectively bargain and resolve disputes with management, it also gives owner Richard Lee political allies with labor organizations.

Lee is responsible for the Tax Cannabis 2010 ballot measure, which would decriminalize recreational use of cannabis, which polls suggest has neatly divided California voters.

As legitimization of the multi-billion dollar business in marijuana could set the stage for a growth industry, one that UFCW is now in on the ground floor of. Which could help sway other growth-oriented unions like the Service Employees International Union.

Of course, police officer associations and the correctional officers union are unlikely to throw their support behind the ballot measure, since more drug arrests means more money and jobs for law enforcement and prisons.

It remains to be seen if the ballot measure will pick up a new string of labor endorsements, or whether it will pay off politically for the likes of Kaplan, who's running for Mayor of Oakland.

Jackson West loves it when labor and civil liberties meet, as in this case and that of San Francisco's worker-owned Lusty Lady.

[Tars]

It's interesting and entertaining to watch the process of marijuana's gradual de-criminalization and legalization. The professional pols at all levels have been sitting on their hands about pot legalization for several decades. It's encouraging to see people going around the pols, changing things gradually here & there, until slowly-but-surely we are working towards workable marijuana laws in our state. At the same time, hopefully we are setting starting points for the rest of the states to follow our lead.

Good luck to the UFCW at Oaksterdam!