Employees at the Exclusive Brands Marijuana & Cannabis Dispensary have been striking for over a month. They say they’re expected to work more without any additional pay and that when they express their concerns, their hours are cut. Employees are attempting to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which already represents cannabis workers in Michigan, but they say Exclusive refuses to recognize their union.

Emily Hull, a striking budtender at Exclusive Brands in Ann Arbor, and Megan Carvalho, the national campaign coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union’s cannabis program, joined the show to discuss the working conditions at the dispensary and the state of the strike.

The Metro contacted the head of Exclusive Brands’ Ann Arbor facility. We have not heard back.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

During the Great Depression, auto workers organized a march from Detroit to the Ford Rouge Factory in Dearborn. Thousands of people took to the streets to fight for jobs when nearly half of workers in Detroit were unemployed. The event is now known as the Ford Hunger March, and it was one of the most significant events leading to the creation of the United Auto Workers union. 

Friends of the Rouge and the Fort Rouge Gateway Partnership joined forces to construct the Fort Street Bridge Interpretive Park to celebrate those who fought for workers rights and commemorate that pivotal moment in labor history. 

The first phase of the park project was completed in 2020 and construction for the second phase of the project started in mid-September. 

Paul Draus, a professor of sociology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a board member of the Friends of Rouge joined the show to discuss the importance of this park and the history it honors. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro