Missouri Dispensary Workers Claim Greenlight Fired Them For Union Organizing

Fired Springfield Dispensary Workers Allege Retaliation

Nearly a dozen employees at a Greenlight Dispensary in Springfield, Missouri, claim they were fired for meeting to discuss unionization. The workers say they were let go just days after holding the meeting. Greenlight contends the employees were terminated for consuming cannabis while on the job.

Madison Taylor, one of the fired employees, told the Missouri Independent that two weeks ago she and a group of employees met to discuss forming a union. She says they were fired days later. Taylor has picketed with other affected employees in front of their former workplace.

Taylor alleges that a colleague who attended the unionization meeting notified management about the effort. She says all of the attendees were then fired days later.

Elvin Kincheloe, another former worker, says he was one of 11 employees fired on a Thursday. He says all of them were accused of the same thing.

“Every single person was accused of either consumption on property, or consuming before a shift,” Kincheloe said Friday in front of his former workplace, according to Ozarks First.

Workers Dispute The Company’s Claims

Kincheloe says the company’s stated reason for firing him was using marijuana on the property or being under the influence at work. He disputes the accusation.

“I was fired on a video call on my manager’s phone for supposed consumption on property with no actual evidence, or any date, time, anything provided,” Kincheloe said Friday in front of his former workplace, according to Ozarks First. He says he was told a case was being built against him.

Kincheloe believes the timing of the firings was suspect. “It’s three days after they found out we had a meeting,” Kincheloe says, according to Ozarks First.

Kincheloe also claims the company has told workers they do not qualify to unionize. The former employees protested Friday and Saturday with chants and signs outside the dispensary on south National.

Taylor said she would have pursued the union effort regardless. “If I would have known that this would have happened, I think I still would have pursued it because this is such an important issue, and bud tenders matter,” Taylor told the Missouri Independent.

Greenlight Responds

Greenlight issued a statement in response to the firings and the employees’ claims. “We do not comment on personnel matters but we take compliance matters very seriously,” the company said in a statement to the Missouri Independent.

The company did not directly address the unionization allegations. The former employees say they plan to keep speaking out.

“My hope, at this moment, is to just continue speaking up for my coworkers’ rights, the industry workers as a whole, and making sure that our community continues to be aware of the predatory practices of this business,” Taylor told the Missouri Independent.

“Our workers matter,” Taylor told the Missouri Independent.

The former employees have continued picketing outside the Springfield dispensary as of this week.

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