Andrew Brisbo
Executive Director
Marijuana Regulatory Agency
Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA)
P.O. Box 30004
Lansing, MI 48909
Re: Support for labor peace agreement within Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Marihuana Licenses regulations
Dear Director Brisbo,
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. EPI conducts research and analysis on the economic status of working America, proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers, and assesses policies with respect to how well they further those goals.
EPI supports the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Marihuana Licenses regulations and the labor peace language incorporated into those regulations.
Today, racial discrimination continues to influence outcomes for people in the labor market: Black workers in Michigan are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.1 Nationally, even black workers with a college degree are more likely to be unemployed than similarly educated white workers.2 Criminalization of marijuana use exacerbates employment barriers, especially among people of color. Black people in Michigan are three times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession even though both communities use marijuana at similar rates.3
The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA) provides an opportunity to shift policies and practices away from those that lead to over-policing and incarceration, and toward those that address racial equity, support families trying to make ends meet, and ensure workers have a voice on the job. The goals of MRTMA as stated in Section 8 specify that the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs shall establish rules to implement “a plan to promote and encourage participation in the marijuana industry by people from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement and to positively impact those communities.”
Labor peace agreements help achieve these goals by supporting a fair process for workers to decide whether or not they would like union representation without intimidation or retaliation by employers. When unions are strong, they set wage standards for entire industries and occupations, make wages more equal within occupations, and help close racial and gender wage gaps. On average, a worker covered by a union contract earns 13.2% more in wages than a peer with similar education, occupation, and experience in a nonunionized workplace in the same sector.4
There is also a huge gap between the share of workers with union representation (11.9%) and the share of workers who would like to have a union and a voice on the job (48%).5 As the cannabis industry grows, regulations with a labor peace agreement will support Michigan workers’ ability to obtain a fair share of this economic growth while reducing racial and gender inequality. We applaud the inclusion of a labor peace agreement in these regulations.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the proposed rules.
Sincerely,
Jaimie Worker
Senior State Policy Coordinator
Economic Policy Institute
jworker@epi.org
(202) 331-5544
1. Valerie Wilson, Black Unemployment Is at Least Twice as High as White Unemployment at the National Level and in 14 States and the District of Columbia, Economic Policy Institute, April 2019.
2. Jhacova Williams and Valerie Wilson, Labor Day 2019: Black Workers Endure Persistent Racial Disparities in Employment Outcomes, August 2019.
3. Ezekiel Edwards, Will Bunting, and Lynda Garcia, The War on Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests, June 2013.
4. Josh Bivens et al., How Today’s Unions Help Working People: Giving Workers the Power to Improve Their Jobs and Unrig the Economy, August 2017.
5. Thomas Kochan et al., “Voice Gaps at Work, Options for Closing Them, and Challenges for Future Actions and Research,” MIT Sloan School of Management, Institute for Work and Employment Research, working paper, June 2018.
