Federal Labor Agency Agrees to Settlement Between Missouri Cannabis Company and Union

The National Labor and Relations Board (NLRB) has approved a settlement agreement between a Missouri cannabis dispensary and a union which forces the company to reinstate five employees and pay more than $145,000 in backpay, front pay, and interest and compensation to 10 employees who were terminated following a March union organizing action.

In a statement, NLRB Region 14 Regional Director Andrea J. Wilkes said, “Individually and collectively, this settlement vindicates employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.” — Wilkes in a press release

The agreement between Point Management, which owns Columbia-based Shangri-La dispensary, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 655 resolves 15 unfair labor practices complaints which were set for an October 30 trial.

Under the settlement, Shangri-La agreed to:

• Recognize and bargain with UFCW Local 655;
• Pay backpay to 10 terminated employees;
• Offer reinstatement to five terminated employees;
• Pay front pay to five terminated employees in lieu of reinstatement;
• Pay damages to a terminated employee for the interest on a high-interest loan that an employee was forced to take out because of their termination;
• Rescind its ban on terminated employees from public areas of Shangri-La;
• Rescind certain provisions of its Handbook and Non-Disclosure Agreement;
• Read a remedial Notice to Employees at meetings covering each shift;
• Email the remedial Notice to Employees to its current employees;
• Place the Notice to Employees on WhatsApp, the messaging platform utilized by Shangri-La to communicate with its employees; and
• Attend a training conducted by the NLRB for its managers and supervisors about employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

In an editorial published in the Labor Tribune, UFCW Local 655 President David A. Cook said, “workers won.”

“This settlement will allow workers at this company to participate in union organizing the way all workers deserve: out in the open and without the fear of reprisals,” he wrote. “Whether or not workers wish to form a union in their workplace is a decision that should be up to them, and only them. It’s a democratic process that, if done fairly, allows for workers to make an informed decision based on all the facts.”