Gunpoint and sexual harassment: Manitoba union calls for better safety legislation at cannabis stores

Cannabis store employees in Manitoba say store safety needs to be addressed. CTV’s Harrison Shin explains.

A new survey from a union representing some cannabis store workers in Manitoba is calling the province to act for workers’ safety.

A survey by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832 found only eight per cent of cannabis store workers felt safe at work at all times. Six per cent said never, 12 said rarely and 47 said sometimes.

Hannah McClements, a shift supervisor at a cannabis store and a shop steward for UFCW, has been working in the industry about a year and a half. She said her store was robbed at gun point earlier this year.

“Thank goodness everybody was okay, nobody was harmed – but it was an incredibly awful thing to have happened to us,” McClements told CTV News Tuesday. “What they ended up coming for was cash and cannabis of course – and it really rattled my coworkers and myself included.

“During the robbery, because the door was still unlocked, 19-year-old [customer] came in and was also held at gunpoint.”

Meantime, a former employee at a Selkirk area cannabis store said a customer sexually harassed her and her coworkers.

“I have had someone sexually harass multiple female employees inside the store … this one customer – he would come up, make very sexual comments about me and my coworkers while I was working there,” Abigail Kruk told CTV News. “He would even caress my hand while I was trying to pass him stuff over the counter, which was extremely uncomfortable.”

Marie Buchan, UFCW Local 832’s Secretary-Treasurer, said workers are at risk.

“(The result) wasn’t shocking. We had heard firsthand from our unionized members about the concerns that they had,” she said. “And these surveys from workers across the province in the cannabis industry just amplified the issues about assaults, robberies, theft, serious injuries in the workplace on a day-to-day basis for any worker in the industry.”

‘Improved safety will require legislation’: Union

The union is now asking the province to legislate new safety measures.

“The ban on working alone was one of the things, also controlled entries, removing window coverings, mandate closing times and ensuring security systems – including silent alarms and panic buttons,” Buchan explained.

The union said they have presented the survey results as well as a request to Justice Minister Matt Wiebe’s office on Nov. 17.

CTV News reached out to Manitoba’s Justice Minister Matt Wiebe for comment. In a statement, Minister Wiebe said, in part, his office is reviewing the proposal.

‘It’s very important we have these legislations in place’: Kruk

McClements said she is trying to bring happiness and positivity into the workplace, but she always feels anxious walking into her store.

“I have to admit, there is a little cloud of anxiety that lingers every time I go in, because I don’t know what I’m walking into,” she said.

Kruk, meantime, quit working in the cannabis industry altogether.

“No, I don’t intend to go back either.”