Multistate cannabis industry operator Curaleaf did not provide holiday pay to members of its unionized workforce for the Juneteenth holiday despite paying its non-unionized employees, according to a company-wide email described by Grown In. Both union and non-union members of Curaleaf’s workforce did get the holiday off.
According to the email outlined by Grown In, non-union salaried employees would have the option to receive a day off within the same pay period, while non-salaried employees would get a day off or time and a half. Employees represented by a union are subject to collective bargaining agreements with their respective unions to work out holiday pay discrepancies, the report says.
Danielle “DJ” Jones, an employee at Curaleaf’s Worth, Illinois facility – where workers are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881 – told Grown In that cutting holiday pay is a tactic by Curaleaf to discourage other employees from unionizing.Â
“We love our jobs and we want to love the industry too, but this is such a massive slap in the face. This is very intentional and goes against the precedent they set. I’m furious that they’d do this in these especially trying times.” — Jones to Grown InÂ
Jones added that, since unionization at the Worth facility, the company has “cultivated a culture of fear.”Â
“Our turnover is so high; more than half our staff is new from January,” he told Grown In. “Of the 50 people that we have on staff, only two people can request time off.”Â
A Curaleaf spokesperson denied the company was trying to punish unionized workers, telling Grown In that it is trying to follow the law as it relates to collective bargaining.Â
“Curaleaf is not prohibiting Illinois employees from celebrating Juneteenth,” the representative told Grown In. “Employees represented by a union are not receiving the holiday in 2022 if their contract is currently being negotiated or their existing contract does not include Juneteenth as a holiday.”Â
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