[PRESS RELEASE] – HIGHLAND PARK, Ill., Nov. 5, 2026 – Employees of Zen Leaf Dispensary overwhelmingly voted United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 881 union bosses out of power at their workplace. The “decertification” effort, led by Zen Leaf employee Elias Driscoll, is the latest in a growing movement of cannabis industry workers seeking to remove unwanted unions.
Driscoll filed the petition for his coworkers with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last month with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions.
Because Illinois lacks Right to Work protections, union officials are allowed to demand that workers pay union dues or fees just to stay employed. Additionally, union officials in a unionized workplace enjoy monopoly bargaining privileges, a government-granted power which allows them to contract and speak for every worker in the work unit – including those employees who oppose their presence. In Right to Work states, by contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary, and the choice is up to each individual worker.
On Oct. 26, Zen Leaf employees voted, 10-1, to remove UFCW Local 881 union bosses from their workplace. On Nov. 3, the NLRB officially certified the election result, formally ending UFCW’s forced union dues and bargaining powers over the employees.
Big Labor and Union-Label Lawmakers Target Cannabis Industry Workers
The cannabis industry has long been the target of both union bosses and union-label state legislators, who have sought to use state laws to help sweep cannabis workers into forced-dues union ranks. In Illinois, for example, when granting licenses to lawfully operate, state officials give preferential treatment to cannabis dispensaries that have so-called “labor peace agreements” – agreements where employers pledge to assist in forcing a union on employees. Other states have passed laws to make such employer assistance mandatory in order to get a business license, even though such laws violate longstanding federal labor law.
As a result, workers in the cannabis industry from around the country have been seeking to free themselves from union officials’ control. With legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, cannabis employees in New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts and Missouri have all won decertification drives to free themselves from unwanted union control.
“Zen Leaf employees have joined the groundswell of workers nationwide who are exercising their right to declare independence from union bosses who don’t represent their interests,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. “This again shows the pressing need for the NLRB to step in and take action against state laws which, in violation of federal labor law, unlawfully mandate that businesses hand over their workers to forced-dues union ranks.”
