{"id":86025,"date":"2026-05-20T09:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/missouri-marijuana-workers-win-union-vote-after-federal-officials-reject-companys-argument-on-blocking-ballots\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:46:08","slug":"missouri-marijuana-workers-win-union-vote-after-federal-officials-reject-companys-argument-on-blocking-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/missouri-marijuana-workers-win-union-vote-after-federal-officials-reject-companys-argument-on-blocking-ballots\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Marijuana Workers Win Union Vote After Federal Officials Reject Company\u2019s Argument On Blocking Ballots"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in this field definitely need somebody to stick up for them, because it\u2019s a little easy to get steamrolled.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been about two years since Will Braddum was fired from his position at Sinse marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility in south St. Louis, Missouri, along with more than a dozen others.<\/p>\n

For him, the marijuana industry had been a career, but he\u2019d seen how \u201ccutthroat\u201d the corporate side can be, he said, and how vulnerable he and other employees were without representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to pad myself from human resources is to cultivate a union movement and talk to my co-workers about job security,\u201d Braddum said in an interview with The Independent in 2023.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than two years since Braddum and other Sinse employees voted in an election to unionize. The majority of the ballots had remained sealed<\/a> because BeLeaf Medical, the facility\u2019s parent company, challenged them\u2014a challenge the company recently lost.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the ballots were finally opened, revealing a long-awaited 11-3 vote in favor of unionization.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like bittersweet,\u201d Braddum said soon after the ballots were revealed Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to have changed the industry for the better, even if the people over at Sinse don\u2019t decide to go in the direction of unionizing and protecting their own rights, at least they have the opportunity now. It sets a precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n

BeLeaf Medical\u2019s owners have been arguing since 2023 that their \u201cpost-harvest workers\u201d don\u2019t have the right to unionize<\/a> because they\u2019re agricultural workers.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the National Labor Relations Board, which is the highest administrative body on labor conflicts<\/a> and sets national policy on unionizing, rejected<\/a> the company\u2019s argument that employees are agricultural workers.<\/p>\n

Agricultural workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, the federal law that protects most private-sector employees\u2019 right to unionize without fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agree with the regional [NLRB] director, for the reasons provided in her decision, that none of the workers employed in the classifications at issue here are agricultural laborers under the secondary definition of agriculture,\u201d the national board members wrote.<\/p>\n

The Sinse employees whose union votes BeLeaf questioned largely made pre-rolls, entered data on computers and processed dried marijuana into finished products, the board found.<\/p>\n

Douglas Purvis, BeLeaf Medical\u2019s director of human resources, told the Independent in an emailed statement that the company respects \u201cthe outcome and the wishes of our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeLeaf Medical is committed to bargaining in good faith,\u201d Purvis said, \u201cand look forward to working together toward a mutually acceptable agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several Sinse workers who organized the union effort and voted in the election gathered at a brewery in St. Louis to celebrate Friday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I wish the ballots would have been opened a little sooner,\u201d said Scotti Iman, who worked at Sinse for more than two years. \u201cI think this kind of shows that people in this field definitely need somebody to stick up for them, because it\u2019s a little easy to get steamrolled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iman was among the original organizers, but he left his position to take care of a family member before the election. Iman said several workers made \u201csacrifices\u201d to get it done and that Sean Shannon, a lead organizer with UFCW Local 655 who has been working with the Sinse employees since fall 2023, \u201cworked his butt off to get this over the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe votes are out and in the open now,\u201d Iman said. \u201cThat\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon said the next step is to send a request to start setting bargaining dates, which the union plans to do Monday.<\/p>\n

Laura Kelley, president of UFCW Local 655, said the BeLeaf election shows why unions were first put in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing we have is our voice,\u201d Kelley said, \u201cand our attorney did a great job of making sure that their voices were heard. Labor has been around a long time, and I think sometimes people forget what we actually stand for\u2014and we stand for that voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Missouri Marijuana Workers Win Union Vote After Federal Officials Reject Company\u2019s Argument On Blocking Ballots<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Missouri Marijuana Workers Win Union Vote After Federal Officials Reject Company\u2019s Argument On Blocking Ballots<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPeople in this field definitely need somebody to stick up for them, because it\u2019s a little easy to get steamrolled.\u201d By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent It\u2019s been about two years since Will Braddum was fired from his position at Sinse marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility in south St. Louis, Missouri,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1335],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86026,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86025\/revisions\/86026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}