A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the voter-approved measure requiring Oregon cannabis businesses to set up labor agreements with their workers as a licensing condition violates the First Amendment right of business owners and is preempted by federal law. Measure 119 required cannabis retailers and processors “to agree to remain neutral when labor organizations communicate with employees about collective bargaining rights,” according to the measure text.
The lawsuit was filed by Ascend, a Portland-based retailer, and Bubble’s Hash, an edibles and concentrates manufacturer. In the decision, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon said the measure “does not distinguish between permissible employer speech and threatening or coercive speech.”
“Measure 119 seeks to regulate – and, indeed, forbid – certain truthful, non-deceptive, non-coercive speech about unionization, which conflicts with Congress’s intent to allow ‘uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate in labor disputes.’” — Simon in the decision
Simon added that state lawyers defending the measure “do not explain how an employer can remain ‘neutral’ with respect to union representatives communicating with its employees while still being free to express its opinions about unionization.”
“Measure 119 is not limited to restricting only threatening, coercive, false, or misleading speech,” Simon wrote, “but instead prohibits all speech by employers that is not ‘neutral’ toward unionization.”
Simon entered a permanent injunction, barring the enforcement of the measure.
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