By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – If Briana Rodriguez’ bosses try to tell her they can’t afford to improve her working conditions, she’s not here for it.
She works for Ascend, at its medicinal and recreational cannabis dispensary in downtown Springfield.
“I bring in enough money to pay off my whole college tuition in one shift,” she told a news conference Wednesday, “in a few hours of it.”
The employees who want to align with Local 881 of the United Food and Commercial Workers say there’s much room for improvement when it comes to paid sick time and consistent, predictable scheduling. The election is being conducted by mail of the 41 employees downtown.
The news conference, outside the dispensary, was about the election for just the one store’s employees, but UFCW wants to eventually pick up all cannabis employees in the state.
Ascend’s parent company chose not to comment. Ascend operates a second, recreational-only dispensary along I-55 in Springfield.
Dave Dahl can be reached at news@wjbc.com
