Workers at Two Illinois Verilife Dispensaries Vote to Join Union

Workers at Verilife dispensaries in River North and Arlington Heights, Illinois have voted to join the Teamsters Local 777, the first locations at the company to do so. Earlier this year, dispensary workers at Modern Cannabis’ Logan Square and River North locations also voted to join the union.

Eunique Nyonly and William Morris, two of the cannabis sales consultants at the Verilife River North who voted to join the union, said they wanted to be Teamsters because they “want representation in the workplace.”

“With the cannabis industry becoming more established in Illinois, there is room for exploitation. By joining the Teamsters, we can combat this.” — Nyonly and Morris in a press release

In addition to the cannabis sales consultants, dispensing inventory specialists at the River North and Arlington Heights also voted to join the union.

“These workers are on the frontlines of the grassroots movement to ensure that the billions of dollars in revenue being generated by the nascent cannabis industry goes not just to investors and shareholders, but to the people who are the backbone of these operations,” Jim Glimco, president of Local 777 said in a statement.

The Modern Cannabis employees held their vote to unionize in June, and more than 80% of those employees voted to join the union. Glimco called that overwhelming vote a “groundbreaking victory.”