1 min read

Season 3, Episode 152

New Connecticut law will help to organize the cannabis industry

ufcw local 919

 

Guest Name:


Mark Espinosa

Guest Website:


ufcw919.org

Guest Social Media:


Facebook

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Supportive Documents:


United Food and Commercial Workers Local 919 President Mark Espinosa, who also serves the Connecticut  AFL-CIO as a Board Trustee, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about Senate Bill 1201, which legalized the use of marajuiana by adults in Connecticut and also required cannabis establishments to enter into Labor Peace Agreements (LPAs). He also talked about how a 2019 strike led to a major raise for workers in 2022. 

UFCW Local 919 represents over 7,000 members in Connecticut.

Espinosa highlighted the benefits of S.B. 1201, which was crafted in part by one of his business agents and a state senator. One section of the law requires cannabis companies to use LPAs, which is supposed to create neutrality during any union organizing attempt.

He also explained how an 11-day strike in 2019 at a Stop & Shop Supermarket helped Local 919 sign a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. With the strike still fresh on the mind of management, the negotiations committee signed a four-year deal that included the largest raises in its history, no reduction in benefits and no benefit cost increases. Additionally, they won new rates and new classifications.

Listen to the entire episode to hear more about these topics.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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