A relatively new union at a Columbus east side cannabis dispensary remains on strike as they demand their corporate owner come back to the negotiating table to ink out a new contract. Herbal Wellness Center United or HWC United went on strike at the end of September, forcing their corporate bosses to shorten hours of operation and bring in scabs.

Out of Ohio’s 159 cannabis dispensaries only a handful have unionized, and this is the first time Ohio dispensary workers have gone on strike. Most dispensary workers, or “budtenders,” make between $14 to $20-an-hour.

HWC United organized with the help of local Teamsters 413 in 2023 not long before full legalization in Ohio was passed by a citizen-led amendment. Their busy medical dispensary was going to have far more customers and make a lot more money. That was predictable, and then they began hearing rumors their owner was looking to sell to a much larger corporation.

Organizers from across the state held a press conference marking two years of war on the people of Gaza and renewing calls for No New Bonds - divestment of taxpayer money from the state of Israel and its genocidal project against the Palestinian people.

“It’s been two years of destruction of my family and my people. Two years of starvation and dirty water. Two years of gathering pieces of bodies in grocery bags. Two years of kill shots on children. And two years of watching my elected officials green light all of it, a genocide funded and supported by my government.”, read a representative from the Baldana, the Palestine Society of Columbus.

At least 60 people packed into the gallery of the state capital building in downtown Columbus as the rain fell steadily on the streets outside. Organizers had planned to demonstrate on the steps of the capital, but weather moved the event indoors.

“Then they came for me . . .”

I can only begin here, at the emotional knifepoint of the ongoing ICE news. ICE in Chicago!

“More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since an immigration crackdown started last month in the Chicago area. The Trump administration has also vowed to deploy National Guard troops in its agenda to boost deportations.

“But U.S. citizens, immigrants with legal status and children have been among detained in increasingly brazen and aggressive encounters which pop up daily across neighborhoods in the city of 2.7 million and its many suburbs.”