Glass House signed deals with maritime union

OG Article By Alex Halperin   Watch Today's LIVE Episode on YouTube, X, and Rumble

July 16, 2025

California operator Glass House has signed numerous labor peace agreements (LPAs) with a union that is not active in the cannabis industry.

Through the Public Records Act, WeedWeek obtained eight LPAs signed by Glass House-affiliated licensees and the Seafarers Entertainment and Allied Trades Union (SEATU), which represents workers in the service, hospitality and gaming industries. SEATU is an affiliate of the Seafarers International Union (SIU).

“We’re completely out of the mix with the cannabis industry and have been for a while. So, we have nothing to do with those companies,” SIU spokesman Jordan Biscardo wrote in an email.

Asked for more information, he responded in full, “Those agreements all were terminated … last year, I think. But we’ve been out of the picture for a while.”

Under investigation

Glass House has attracted national scrutiny since Thursday when ICE and other federal agencies raided its greenhouses in Camarillo (Ventura Co.) and Carpenteria (Santa Barbara Co.). The raids have unsettled the cannabiz, despite their apparent focus on immigration enforcement, not the federally illegal crop.

Amid a chaotic scene of protests, the Department of Homeland Security says it arrested more than 300 people. One worker died, reportedly after falling from a greenhouse roof. 

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (R) alleges the raid “rescued 14 children from potential forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking.” Glass House is now under investigation for potential child labor violations. Minors can work on U.S. farms under some circumstances but no one under 21 can work in California’s licensed cannabis industry.

Publicly-traded in Canada, and led by CEO Kyle Kazan, a former cop, Glass House is among California’s largest vertical operators, with $200M+ in annual revenue. The company is best known for its 5.5M square-foot greenhouse in Camarillo, among the country’s largest licensed grows.

Following the raid, the company posted that it complied with warrants and that it “has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.” The post says it is working to provide its detained workers with legal representation.

The company declined to comment for this article.

Eight LPAs

The eight LPAs, obtained through the California Public Records Act, represent a Santa Barbara County manufacturing license and seven dispensaries under Glass House’s three retail brands Farmacy, The Pottery and Natural Healing Center. All the agreements are executed by representatives from both a licensee and SEATU, though none of the documents print the individual signers’ names and I found their signatures illegible. Three were signed in October 2023, and five in June 2024.

The Department of Cannabis Control’s (DCC) web site indicates it also has also received SEATU LPAs for additional Glass House dispensaries, distributors and dozens of licenses associated with its Camarillo grow. It does not list any LPAs for the dozens of Glass House cultivation licenses in Santa Barbara County.

The site also lists a handful of SEATU LPAs for California licensees with different owners than Glass House.

Together, the documents raise fresh questions about whether Glass House’s LPAs meet California’s legal requirements.

Bona fide?

California requires licensed operators with more than 10 employees to enter into LPAs with a union, meaning the company agrees not to interfere with the union’s organization efforts. Failure to do so can cost a company its license, according to state law.

After a 2023 complaint filed by the Teamsters union, the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) determined that a group called Professional Technical Union Local 33 or ‘Pro Tech,’ which had signed LPAs with several large operators, including Glass House, was not a “bona fide” union, it lacked the will and/or ability to organize workers. A subsequent operator-filed lawsuit failed to overturn California’s union-friendly requirement.

In 2023, the DCC told SFGate that companies which had signed with Pro Tech would have 180-days to sign with bona fide unions. Glass House told the site it was working to find a union partner.

In March 2024, DCC told WeedWeek that all but three of the licenses it warned about LPA’s with so-called “fake unions” or “company unions” were compliant, and one of the stragglers was in the submission process.

It is not the DCC’s responsibility to determine whether or not an organization is a “bona fide” union. An agency spokesman declined to comment on Glass House’s agreements with SEATU.