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GRAMERCY | MURRAY HILL | WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Our Perspective
Cannabis Legalization
Will Benefit All
New Yorkers
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, UFCW
Twitter: @sappelbaum
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act
(MRTA) has become law, and it’s a success all
New Yorkers can be proud of. The law, legalizing
adult use cannabis in New York, puts fairness at its
center; communities of color, workers and
entrepreneurs are prioritized in this program. The final law reflects the
longstanding efforts of worker and community activists to create legislation
that will lift up all of our communities.
RWDSU Local 338 represents nearly 500 workers in New York’s medical
cannabis industry, and now, with the legalization of adult use cannabis, we
have an opportunity to create more quality jobs. We’ve already seen in New
York the difference unions can make in the cannabis industry. In 2014,
RWDSU Local 338 fought for the passage of the Compassionate Care Act,
which legalized medical marijuana, to ensure the industry created good union
careers for the workforce. As a result, workers in cannabis cultivation,
production, distribution, and retail in New York won RWDSU membership,
and in turn, negotiated strong union contracts.
With RWDSU Local 338, workers have won guarantees of full-time
hours, significant wage increases, generous paid time off, quality health
coverage for themselves and their families at no cost, retirement savings
benefits, and other crucial workplace protections including on-the-job training.
The only way to guarantee these benefits are provided to workers is through a
union. The best way to ensure a union exists in the workplace is through
mandatory labor standards in the law. Unions have made a difference for
these workers, and now the goal is to ensure that the same benefits – and the
protections of a union voice – are available to workers in the new adult use
cannabis industry.
A Diverse Industry to Build Stronger Communities
Legalization provides an excellent starting point for reversing the discriminatory
cost the decades-long “war on drugs” has had on communities of color.
As a union that organizes workers in several low-wage industries including retail,
the majority of our members are people of color who live in communities
that were targeted by discriminatory drug laws. We all have a stake in ensuring
the adult use cannabis industry not only creates good jobs, but also provides
true entrepreneurial opportunities for our membership and their
communities. That is why it’s crucial that cannabis industry ownership, management,
and workforce reflects the diversity that makes New York great.
The RWDSU and our allies also support the resentencing provisions for
those who are behind bars for cannabis-related crimes, and expunging and
sealing criminal records of those who went to jail for cannabis-related
offenses. As the city, state, and country move forward toward cannabis
legalization, it’s important those who have been prosecuted for cannabisrelated
offenses – disproportionately people of color – are allowed to move
forward with their lives free of outdated legal repercussions and the stigma
that accompanies them.
Legalizing cannabis for adult use opens New York State to an incredible
new avenue for job growth, criminal justice reform, and
economic opportunities for small and medium-sized
businesses, as well as increased revenue to fund
important public services. By making sure that the
industry is created responsibly, we can make sure
that as the industry flourishes, our communities
and working families flourish as well.
www.rwdsu.org
2 April 1, 2021 Schneps Media
/RothmanNY.com
/www.rwdsu.org
