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Yes on Prop 19 (SF Weekly/Photobucket)
More good news for California’s marijuana legalization initiative: UFCW’s Western States Council, representing more than 200,000 union members in the Western US, endorsed Prop 19 yesterday.
“The Western States Council is endorsing Proposition 19 based upon our previous support of the medical cannabis initiative, 1996’s Proposition 215,” George Landers, the council’s executive director, said in a statement. “We view Proposition 19 as an enhanced version of the previous proposition, that creates taxable revenue and produces jobs in agriculture, health care, retail and possibly textile. We further believe that the proposition will deprive narcotics traffickers of a significant source of criminal revenue.”
Ron Lind, international president of the union, and Dan Rush of its Local 5 also spoke out in favor of Proposition 19.
“The marriage of the cannabis-hemp industry and UFCW is a natural one,” said Rush. “We are an agriculture, food-processing and retail union, as is this industry.”
Indeed, there’s a huge potential for UFCW and other unions if marijuana is legalized. UFCW Local 5 has already organized the dispensaries of Prop 19 funder Richard Lee, with more than 100 marijuana dispensary employees as card-carrying UFCW members who will collectively bargain for a contract.
And as Local 5 President Ron Lind notes, it’s not just dispensaries: an entire legal market with legitimate employees will come out of the shadows. People will grow, tend, process, and transport marijuana, in addition to dispensaries that will sell the product. Almost all of this happens under the table now, and there’s a huge potential once marijuana enters a legal market.
Now that the union of 200,000 workers backs marijuana legalization, it remains to be seen if other labor union players will get involved. SEIU was reportedly courted by backers of Washington State’s failed marijuana legalization initiative, but declined to put money down to push it onto the ballot. A key missing piece in California will be the California Labor Federation, the state’s joint table of labor unions that coordinates much of labor’s political moves in the state.
Either way, the UFCW Council’s support is a welcome step forward for Prop 19.
19 Comments
“Look for the Union label” indeed!
Hooray for them !
Yay! Thanks for sharing the good news, Michael.
yep!
Yes We Cannabis !
Living in Illinois, a big agriculture state, I wish my state government would see the light on this issue. There are still descendants of the industrial hemp that was once produced here growing all over the state. Unfortunately, Illinois will never lead the way. Hopefully a positive outcome in California will start breaking down resistance in other parts of the country.
Let us also remember that the whole hemp industry has been negatively impacted by the banning of hemp fibers (because the hemp plant is too close in appearance to cannabis) for rope, as well as clothing and more. If marijuana is decriminalized, the additional markets for related hempen products may well be reopened!
Anyone just see Ratigan on the oil spill?
No, is there a link for Ratigan yet?
Michael, this is great news, thanks for posting!
Further evidence that union leaders have completely lost touch with their purpose and with mainstream America. In fact, in this case the union leadership has lost its mind.
Labor unions — just like environmental organizations, ethnic/racial groups, women’s organizations, etc. — now exist solely as Democrat front groups. With the possible exception of the environmentalists, these groups care more about getting Democrats elected than anything else, including — and especially — the wishes of their constituencies.
I don’t think making pot legal has much to do with electing Dems. The Dem party has not come out in favor of this proposition and I’m sure they won’t.
Interesting. I want to hear Jerry Brown explain his opposition to prop 19 to the union.
Not Ratigan, but good news.
Exactly right. This one doesn’t break down along party lines. In CA the corporate Dems (meaning most of the Dems) don’t want to piss off the police and prison industrial complex, who benefit from prohibition.
California: Jerry Brown Opposes Legalizing Marijuana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqFxwTg-jgw
Very good news, if true. At this point I can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop.
I didn’t know what UFCW meant until I looked it up: United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
I think Ron Lind is one of the best union leaders in the UFCW.
I think the UFCW has a lot of good people in California.
Unions made this country great. Let unions lead this country to make it free again. I wonder how much the alcohol lobby gave to the major corrupt Democratic politicians in California. Americans really get off on victimless crimes.