Marijyn Investments LLC Sign With Teamsters Local 70

A mark of maturity in the industry, Marjyn Investments LLC signed with Teamsters Local 70.

This is a milestone in the acceptance of labor within the medical marijuana industry. Please read rollitup.org's cover story:
Marjyn Investments’ Workers Signed with Teamsters


This has enormous importance for all of us. Let's dialogue as to what it means for our present and future, both locally and nationally.

The only thing this means is weed will cost more and decrease in quality.....j/k

fitch303, tell me why you think this will be the case. I'm not sure I agree with you but I want to hear your opinion. Although workers will have certain protections that can translate into compromised quality, there will be increased availability and increased competition between legitimate growers.

What are your thoughts?

I would kind of have to agree that quality will go down and prices will rise.
Off the top of my head I can not think of a single company that has a union that is at the forfront of any market.
I just don't think that the union beaurocracy will allow it.
I'm not hating on unions, They have there place in the market too. It's just not on the cutting edge of any market. The dynamic is too fluid, and that requires change on a regular basis.
The unions I think are more interested in making sure that rules of labor are followed. That just doesn't add to the bottom line.

If you need another reason to grow your own shit, here it is.

Maine has eight districts and eight dispensaries. Five of the contracts went to subsidiaries of one company. That company is from California: Berkeley Patients Group of Berkeley, California, one of the most established collectives in the state.

If Maine farmers could compete on equal footing with the larger more established providers out west, wouldn't they stand a better chance of controlling their destiny? If they could have bargained collectively, perhaps one Maine contract would have been granted to a business from Maine. I'm from Oregon and we care about Oregonians. I imagine Maine is no different. If I were a patient in Maine, I would wish to be cared for by people with a vested interest in the welfare of my state.

If you can grow your own, that's great. Unfortunately that's not an option available to all patients in need of medical marijuana.

What do other folks think?

Sorry to bump myself but I'm on the fence here regarding the issue of unionization.

I'd love to hear some good arguments either way.

I think its terrible just look at the things unions have done for other industries. Unions do not help industries they do everything they can to milk every ounce of life out of a company. They prevent people from working to their full potential not to mention they drive up cost.

My brother worked as an iron worker for a non union company and they had to fight with union scum on more than one occasion. The union guys would come to work sites where none union labor was and try to intimidate them into joining the union. My brother is not easily intimidated and more often than not he would end up kicking some ass.

I know a guy who moved here from another state and couldn’t get a plumbing job for 3 years because the union wouldn’t let him. Of course he did it any way but he was always afraid the union was going to find out.

BudMcLovin, shit, this sounds like some horrid Jimmy Hoffa tale. Sorry to hear it.

Think of where the industry is now. It's embryonic. A very small number of companies hold a disproportionately large amount of power for no other reason than they come from a state with a long history of dispensaries and lax incorporation laws. In the news story I hyperlinked above, the first thing Berkeley Inc. did was extend a $300K line of credit to its local Maine "franchise". Maine was squeezed out of a Maine business. So my question to all is: who is wielding the biggest bat unfairly? Is it the union or the "too big not to get a contract" corporation.

Whose job is it to level the playing field? I think a State District Council should protect the state. Maine got screwed in my opinion. This is just my opinion and I challenge anyone to agree or disagree.

Unions do really suck. But in this case I think that it may more be a good way to legitimize an industry. I know it may affect a lot of peoples pocketbooks, but as a whole if there is going to bring a new spin to businesses thinking about ways to grow and financiers wanting to invest in a new industry, and that means lobby money as they start to try to get the politicians to allow for it and the scramble to the top of an emerging industry.

Really in this case as much (legal) organization of this industry means better for the entire country, even if it is shitty for the people currently in the industry that cannot make the jump to legality work.


I think home grown will eventually have to use the beer maker model, with a ton of micro brews and a few major skanky companies that dominate the market with a cheap alternative.

hanimmal said:

Unions do really suck. But in this case I think that it may more be a good way to legitimize an industry.

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True.

hanimmal said:

I think home grown will eventually have to use the beer maker model, with a ton of micro brews and a few major skanky companies that dominate the market with a cheap alternative.

Click to expand...

Definitely True. I just hope I’m a live to see it. I brew my own beer occasionally, it’s no Sam Adams but home brew will get you drunk. To steal a line from Dave Chappelle “You’ll be fuckin fat girls in no time”.
[video=youtube;rtdFRHQwF2I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtdFRHQwF2I[/video]

I hope I live to see it as well. It has to be legitimized. What's more American than monolithic corporations doing battle with worker unions?

Let's talk about models. There's:
1. The Microbrewery model
2. The bouquet wine model
3. The Connoisseur Cigar Model

These have all been successful. What do they all have in common? They all appeal to a sophisticated palate. During prohibition beer and wine got you f****d up and 25 cents was a lot for a cigar. By the 1980s peoples' palates had been educated to appreciate quality. We are, in my opinion, ready for that with marijuana. I think the winery model will win out because the same people who grow the grapes make the wine. This is the model I'm studying. The Microbrewery model is worth note because it has lower overhead and proved that you can take a country used to Schlitz and educate them to enjoy the truly finer things.

These models all remind me of when the first live theater came to my city. They couldn't just hit the ground running and do Equus or Amadeus. They had to educate the populace and show them that Neil Simon was funny and if Simon was funny, there could be more where that came from. The one thing that would destroy all of the above four models would be a successful monopoly. At this embryonic stage of industry development, that's what we have to fight against. Selective use of unions is a sublime tool at this juncture. Especially as most collectives will be private non-profit mutual benefit organizations peppered with a few limited liability corporations (e.g. Marijyn Investments).

What do others think about the early development of our industry? What model do you think will dominate?

hanimmal said:

Unions do really suck. But in this case I think that it may more be a good way to legitimize an industry. I know it may affect a lot of peoples pocketbooks, but as a whole if there is going to bring a new spin to businesses thinking about ways to grow and financiers wanting to invest in a new industry, and that means lobby money as they start to try to get the politicians to allow for it and the scramble to the top of an emerging industry.

Really in this case as much (legal) organization of this industry means better for the entire country, even if it is shitty for the people currently in the industry that cannot make the jump to legality work.


I think home grown will eventually have to use the beer maker model, with a ton of micro brews and a few major skanky companies that dominate the market with a cheap alternative.

Click to expand...

Intelligent stuff. I wish I had said this.