Critics say Measure 119 runs afoul of the National Labor Relations Act.
In a widely anticipated legal challenge, two Portland-based dispensaries are suing to block enforcement of a new law intended to help cannabis-industry workers unionize.
The dispensaries — Bubble’s Hash and Ascend Dispensary — argue in a complaint filed Feb. 12 in federal district court in Eugene that Oregon’s new law is unconstitutional because it’s preempted by a federal law, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
“Measure 119 fails to recognize an employee’s right to choose (or not) their union representation … while commanding the Licensees to enter into binding contracts, albeit improper contracts, or risk licensure,” the suit reads.
The lawsuit names as defendants Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, state Attorney General Dan Rayfield as well as the chairman and the executive director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), which maintains the state’s marijuana business license program.
Measure 119 requires cannabis retailers and processors to submit a signed peace labor agreement (PLA) to the OLCC as part of the licensure process. Such agreements require management to remain neutral when employees take steps to unionize. The law does not apply to producers or wholesalers.
Union reps have defended Oregon’s law — the United for Cannabis Workers Act — as necessary to clear up the murky relationship between state and federal marijuana law. Because marijuana remains federally illegal, supporters of M119 say Oregon-based marijuana businesses may fail to recognize federal worker protections.
Cannabis PLA laws are on the books in other states including New Jersey and New York. California recently expanded its cannabis PLA requirements. The lawsuit states other legal challenges to state cannabis PLA laws are ongoing.
Cannabis attorneys have urged Oregon-based clients to apply for licensure prior to the law’s effective date of Dec. 5 to dodge PLA requirements for at least another year. And cannabis attorney Vince Sliwoski of the firm Harris Sliwoski writes online that a number of marijuana businesses submitted OLCC licenses without PLAs in apparent anticipation of a legal challenge to the new law.
Oregon’s version of the law originated in 2023, when the state’s largest private sector labor union, United Food and Commercial Workers, tried to pass a cannabis PLA law in the state Legislature, though the effort was unsuccessful.
The union accused Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, of tanking the bill’s chances. Holvey said at the time M119 might violate the NLRA, an assessment shared by legislative attorneys.
UFCW Local 555, which represents grocery workers and others in much of the Northwest, spent more than $300,000 on the campaign to recall Holvey, a former carpenter’s union rep, considered one of the Legislature’s staunchest labor allies. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the union cited Holvey’s lack of support for the cannabis PLA bill — its top Legislative priority that session — as its chief complaint against him. That October, Holvey easily survived the recall challenge.
Following the failure of HB 3183, the union focused on passing a cannabis PLA law through the Oregon ballot measure process. It ultimately submitted 163,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office, well more than the number required to get M119 on the November ballot. The version of the law put to voters went further than HB 3183, omitting a passage from the bill that barred employees who’d signed a PLA from striking to settle disputes.
The measure passed with 57% of the vote.
UFCW Local 555 has said it will pursue more ballot measures in the future given its disappointment in elected lawmakers. Last year, more than 4,500 union members who work at 28 Portland-area Fred Meyer stores struck for two months.
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