DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Members of Local 876 braved the cold this week by demonstrating outside various Lume facilities in Michigan, saying they are trying to put pressure on the cannabis company to bargain with union members in good faith.

“[Workers] won an election in August 2022 [to unionize]” Keith Schilling, Organizing Director of UFCW Local 876 told Michigan News Source. “Negotiations have been ongoing for five months and we’ve barely gotten anywhere.”

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Schilling would not offer specifics, but did say that “Lume is trying to hardball the negotiation” and that the two groups are “failing to see eye-to-eye on negotiating basic union stuff.”

While five months may seem like a long time, it’s not when considering how old the cannabis industry is in Michigan. Voters approved a proposal in November 2018 which legalized marijuana in the state. According to Schilling, unionization of these types of workers is new within the last year. Local 876 boasts 15,000 members.

Lume is one of the largest cannabis dispensaries in Michigan with 32 locations. Michigan News Source reached out to Lume for a comment and received this statement from Lume Cannabis Co-President and COO Doug Hellyar:

“At Lume, we value and respect our amazing employees because they are passionate about our company mission, share our commitment to providing the highest quality cannabis experience and they play a critical role in our company’s continued success and growth in Michigan’s dynamic cannabis marketplace.”

Hellyar continued, “We support our employees with industry-leading wages, consistent pay raises, benefits and opportunities to advance professionally within Lume.”

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In conclusion, Hellyar said, “More than 400 of our employees have been promoted internally to positions of greater responsibility and higher compensation, part of our commitment to grow our company talent from within and retain employees. Because of our approach, we see many employees choose to stay with Lume – even in a highly competitive job market – and we regularly get rave reviews from customers about their great experience with our Luminaries at our stores across Michigan,” he said.

“The bargaining process between Lume and the UFCW began on Oct. 20, 2022,” Hellyar clarified. “Since that time, the parties have met five times. Lume and UFCW have three additional dates to meet through March 14. We’ll be at the bargaining table each time. Since the beginning of this process we have bargained in good faith and we will continue to do just that,” Hellyar said.

Demonstrators outside a Lume facility in Owosso told Michigan News Source they’d prefer to have their union rep speak for them, but did mention they’d been out front for two days. They were there Thursday as well and Schilling mentioned the demonstrations would likely continue until members reach their goal.

Schilling said he hopes the demonstrations grab Lume’s attention. He did offer a word of caution.

“The danger is you have a lot of anti-union attorneys that use laws to skate around negotiating a contract,” Schilling said. “You see it with Starbucks and elsewhere with this new age of attorneys that sandbag negotiating fair contracts with unions in general.”