LANSING, MI -- There weren’t enough seats for all those who wanted to speak at or attend a public hearing on Michigan marijuana industry rules in Lansing Tuesday, Feb. 12.

A heating issue forced a last-minute relocation from the auditorium in the G. Mennen Williams Building in Lansing to the year-old Marijuana Regulatory Agency building at 2407 N. Grand River Ave. in Lansing. The crowd spilled out into the entrance hall.

More than 30 people, including attorneys, “bud-tenders,” growers, edible manufacturers, medical marijuana caregivers, politicians and marijuana patients, gave comment during a hearing on Michigan marijuana draft rules that could be in place by May.

There are nearly 100 pages of proposed rules that, in their final form, will guide merged medical and recreational marijuana licensing laws.

Many meeting comments centered on the labor peace agreement clause that was added to proposed final rules, and the majority of those commenting were in favor of it.

“A labor peace agreement is an agreement between an operator and a recognized labor organization just to ensure that both sides come to the table,” Marijuana Regulatory Agency Director Andrew Brisbo said, “that the business owner won’t stand in the way of organization by the staff of the facility and that the labor organization wouldn’t push the labor force into a strike situation.”

Geoffrey Lawrence, a policy fellow with the Libertarian Reason Foundation; Robin Schneider, director of the 200-business-member Michigan Cannabis Industry Association; Steve Linder, director of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association; and marijuana legalization pioneer Tim Beck, who called the inclusion of a force union agreement a “cockamamie idea," spoke in opposition to the rule.

“Our association has already reached out to the Legislature and said” unless the labor peace agreement is removed “we will oppose the rule set entirely,” Linder said.

Schneider, who helped legalize recreational marijuana, said: “We certainly did not include it in the ballot initiative language.”

Marijuana Regulatory Agency Director Andrew Brisbo presented the clause as a stabilizer for the new industry.

“We’re looking at a new market in the state that it’s necessary to support in order to combat the illicit market, ultimately to make sure the consumers are accessing the safest possible products," Brisbo said. “ ... With lots of new businesses in the space, who are operating on pretty thin profit margins ... we want to make sure there’s as much stability as possible.”

Marijuana Regulatory Agency Director Andrew Brisbo said specific details of a labor peace agreement would be negotiated by the employer and labor organization. He revealed no other likely guidelines.

“Other states have adopted a pretty similar philosophy,” he said. “We took a pretty broad approach. We didn’t want to dictate specifically what the agreements were supposed to look like, just create that connection between the industry and labor organizations.”

Among the labor peace agreement supporters in attendance was Nate Noel, a lead cultivator at Minneapolis-based Vireo Health, one of two licensed medical marijuana producers Minnesota. The company’s 60 employees are part of the Unite Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) international union.

Noel said the union affords him and other workers benefits they wouldn’t likely receive otherwise, including a livable wage, four weeks paternity leave, 26 paid days off per year and “great” health insurance for his family of four, including two daughters, at a rate of $5 per week.

“I just want to raise the bottom bar for cannabis workers,” said Noel, whose union flew him to Michigan to speak at the meeting.

“Wherever cannabis is legalized, the UFCW is committed to building a successful industry with a thriving, diverse and skilled workforce,” the union website says. “Wherever cannabis is legalized, the UFCW is committed to building a successful industry with a thriving, diverse and skilled workforce.”

In Michigan, Josey Scoggin of Benton Harbor, a college-educated mother and nine-year employee in the marijuana industry, said she is having trouble finding a nonunion, cannabis-industry job that will afford her a decent wage and health benefits, which she requires due to a physical disability.

Scoggin said she was recently offered a $14-per-hour assistant manager job without benefits.

Due to a lack of benefits in the industry, Scoggin said she’s not seen a doctor in years and often forgoes expensive medications her doctors prescribe.

The GOP-led Michigan Legislature has passed resolutions in opposition to the labor peace agreement clause.

Before being written into law, Brisbo and the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules must sign off on a final version of the rules.

-- Gus Burns is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact him with questions, tips or comments at fburns@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, @GusBurns. Read more from MLive about medical and recreational marijuana.

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