Wins more than $145,000 back pay for workers not yet union members; launches major regional cannabis organizing drive
By ED FINKELSTEIN
Publisher Emeritus
UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES: Employees and supporters working to organize at Shangri La cannabis dispensary picket against Unfair Labor Practices outside the Shangri-La South dispensary in Columbia, Mo. on May 16, 2023. – Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent photo
Columbia, MO – “We won’t back down, and we’ll fight for employees who are wronged.”
With that emphasis, UFCW Local 655 President David Cook announced an “historic,” unprecedented settlement of Unfair Labor Practice charges against Shangri-La cannabis dispensary here where the union was organizing its employees and the company engaged in egregious anti-union tactics that included firing 10 workers without cause and as Cook put it, “engaging in manipulation and intimidation.”
Local 655 filed for an election last April. When bosses discovered who signed the petition, firings began. As employees began picketing over the firings, Local 655 filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) based on a dramatic change in NLRB rules over how unfair company practices during organizing are resolved.
Under the new rules of the Cemex decision settled last August, just as Local 655