By Mike Elk & Kit Baril
PITTSBURGH, PA - This week, Pittsburgh City Council passed a bill 8-0 that protects workers from discrimination for using medical marijuana, but excepted workers in unions. The law now creates an incentive for medical marijuana users to work in non-union firms rather than seeking to unionize.
“Medical marijuana is legal in the state of Pennsylvania, and it is illegal for employers to discriminate against its users,” said councilwoman Barb Warick at a hearing last week. ”But the reality is, at least in Pittsburgh, there is one major industry that consistently refuses to recognize the legal right of Pennyslvanians to use medical marijuana to treat a serious medical condition, and this is the construction industry.”
Initially, the bill was intended to protect all medical marijuana users, but under pressure from right-wing construction unions in Pittsburgh, all unionized employers in the city were exempted. Many of the unions were worried that allowing workers to use medical marijuana on the job could create safety issues for their unions.
“When we're talking about our building trade unions, we need to respect their opinion,” said City Councilman Anthony Coghill. “We need to listen to their concerns. And most importantly … it's about safety, safety, safety for them."
Warwick countered that exempting unions would not only disincentivize union membership, but force union members to take highly addictive opioids for pain instead of less harmful medical marijuana.
A 2018 study by CDC showed that construction workers had the highest rate of death from overdose, including overdose from heroin. The study showed that the construction industry has the third-highest rate of workplace overdose fatalities.
Additionally, the problems of drug abuse have lead to a suicide rate among construction workers that was four times higher than the general population.
Despite substance abuse counselors recommending medical mairjuana over opoids, many construction unions in Western PA continue to test their union members for drugs including marijuana. For many unions, its a dollar and sense issues as their insurance companies would charge them more if they didn’t test.
“The [union] employers are making it difficult on everyone, knowing the dire issues with opioids that workers are facing,” said Warwick.
Ultimately, Warwick’s attempt to save the bill failed as an amendment exempting unionized employers in the city passed by a margin of 8-to-1 with Warwick the sole “no” vote.
However, Warwick vowed to fight on in future attempts to undo the law that she says will only hurt the ability of construction unions to organize.
“I believe that our construction workers deserve those same protections,” she said. “It’s unfortunate they won’t be getting them today.”
