Warehouse workers should see a slice of cannabis industry profits in a sector where precarious employment is a growing concern, according to the head of Ontario’s public sector union.

Speaking to the Star, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) president Warren “Smokey” Thomas said the drive to unionize a privately run warehouse supplying the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) was an uphill battle but one his organization was determined to pick.

“The picture I’m getting is the workers want a union but they’re scared to death,” he said. “We’re very persistent, slow and steady. We don’t want anyone doing anything they’re not comfortable doing.”

The membership gains — 100 to 200 workers at the warehouse, by Thomas’s estimate — are small for the union’s 155,000-strong base. But the drive is significant in the context of an increasingly-precarious warehousing industry, Thomas said.

In Toronto and surrounding areas, unionization rates in the warehousing sector are around 13 per cent according to city data, and the median hourly wage is $16.

Thomas said that wage fits with what his organizers are hearing from workers about pay at the OCS warehouse, which the union says is being operated by Domain Logistics in Oakville.

Incorporation records for Domain Logistics list Michael Glodziak as its chief executive officer and show the business was incorporated in November 2017. A Nevada-based company listing Glodziak as its director also registered a trade mark application to the Canadian government for Domain Logistics in September 2018, describing it as a warehousing and distribution service.

Records requested by the Star from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board show Domain Logistics is listed as a client of a GTA-based temp agency called VPS Extrusion Staffing, which incorporated in March 2017.

The Star was unable to reach VPS Extrusion Staffing for comment. Neither Domian Logistics nor Nevada-based Tri-Starr Management responded to the Star’s requests for comment.

Asked about the tendering process and what if any stipulations were included about pay rates or working conditions, the OCS said it “does not comment on commercial agreements.”

The Star asked for a copy of tender details for the contract, which do not appear to be available on the province’s public sector tenders website. The OCS, which is the only legal seller of recreational cannabis in Ontario, did not respond.

LCBO warehouses are unionized with OPSEU and under the previous Liberal administration’s plans, OCS warehouse workers would have been folded into the union, Thomas said.

Speaking to the Star Friday, Canadian Labour Congress head Hassan Yussuf called the union drive “an important battle,” noting that precarious work is “growing in sectors we would not expect.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Thomas said heavy security at the Oakville facility has complicated the task; earlier this month the union said Halton police were called to disrupt organization efforts.

“Security have swarmed our organizers when they’re on the sidewalk,” he said. “You can’t get kicked off the sidewalk.”

“There’s a lot of money to be made (in the cannabis industry),” he added. “Why wouldn’t that money be distributed more fairly?”