COLUMBIA − Shangri-La Dispensaries employees in south Columbia voted in favor of unionizing on Wednesday.
An election was held at the Family Life Center in Columbia. Votes came in favor by a count of six to five, but there are more than a dozen that could be challenged.
Sean Shannon, the cannabis organizing coordinator for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655, said only employees at the Shangri-La Peachtree location were eligible to vote.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) helped host the election and will hold meetings in the next few weeks to resolve the challenged votes.
Shannon said Wednesday’s vote marked the first part of a two-step election process for Shangri-La.
“This is an authorization vote, so they’re voting to allow UFCW Local 655 to negotiate on their behalf,” Shannon said.
UFCW Local 655 will hold a second vote sometime in the future, which will determine specific contract negotiations workers hope to achieve with Shangri-La.
“Only when they [Shangri-La employees] vote yes on a contract, with the majority of the workers voting yes, will they actually become official union partner,” Shannon said.
Shannon claimed one of the biggest things employees hope to get out of these negotiations is higher wages. Additionally, he said workers are also looking for job security.
“These are people that really care about their jobs, they love helping people and this allows them to ‘Hey if I come in and do my job and I don’t do anything wrong, I can keep my job,'” Shannon said.
One current Shangri-La employee, Evan Croy, said he voted in favor of unionizing on Wednesday.
“It seems like there’s been a lack of respect in the workplace from our managers and higher-ups,” Croy said. “I see this as a way to finally get that respect that we’ve been missing out on.”
Shannon believes the union will provide an environment that can help workers meet these needs and feel supported.
“It really creates an atmosphere where people can really stand up for themselves, protect themselves and protect each other,” Shannon said.
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Croy added he believes the group can help employees express concerns with Shangri-La’s working conditions, as well as gain a sense of job security. Shannon said realistically, contract negotiations could take awhile. He said UFCW Local 655 is open to working with Shangri-La.
“We hope that the company, after the vote is done, they realize that the workers did stick through this,” Shannon said. “Maybe they’ll come to the table, show some good faith and just negotiate.”
Shannon said at the end of the day, these negotiations are all about the workers and what they want out of their contracts. He said UFCW Local 655 is prepared to support for Shangri-La employees.
“If they want to keep fighting, we’re gonna be there, and the workers aren’t going anywhere either,” he said.
The election comes after employees picketed outside the south Columbia store in May in a “unfair labor practice” strike. Those involved said Shangri-La initially denied employee’s rights to collectively bargain. Employees said they filed for union election on Tuesday, April 4, and didn’t have any date set as of May 16.
Additionally, some claimed several workers were suspended without pay or were terminated under “suspicious circumstances.”
Shangri-La owner Nevil Patel denied this at the time and said the company had been working with the NLRB to conduct a normal union vote, according to previous KOMU 8 reporting.
Shangri-La responded to this in May and filed two unfair labor practice lawsuits against UFCW Local 655. The lawsuits alleged the union failed to notify the “health care facility” about a picketing at least 10 days in advance, and that it “refused to bargain in good faith.”
According to Shannon, the NLRB has since ruled that Shangri-La failed to show any proof that it was a health care facility. He said the company has dropped the lawsuits against UFCW Local 655.
KOMU 8 reached out to the Shangri-La Wednesday but never heard back from the company.
Moving forward, Shannon believes this more and more dispensaries across the state will continue to unionize. He said the organization has seen a recent uptick in dispensaries looking to join UFCW Local 655.
“Since Shangri-La filed, we’ve seen two dispensaries closer to St. Louis both since file for their union elections,” Shannon said.
Shannon added he’s personally working on six to seven other campaigns with cannabis workers in the state.