Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the planned legalization of cannabis in New York State. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) currently represents workers in the medical marijuana industry. John Durso, President of Local 338 of the RWDSU and Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU issued the following joint statement.

"Today, Amazon put warehouse workers in the hospital – again and one is fighting for their life in the ICU right now. Amazon's automated robots put humans in life-threatening danger today, the effects of which could be catastrophic and the long-term effects for 80+ workers are unknown. This is another outrageous example of the company putting profits over the health and safety of their workers, and we cannot stand for this. The richest company in the world cannot continue to be let off the hook for putting hard working people's lives at risk. Our union will not back down until Amazon is held accountable for these and so many more dangerous labor practices," said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

“New York deserves better than the deal that was struck to lure Amazon here. Its hard to believe that we are giving as much as $1 billion dollars to one of the wealthiest and largest companies in history. This was an opportunity to create good jobs in a way that benefits the city and workers. We should be demanding that Amazon respects its workforce by allowing them to exercise their right to freely associate.”

Today, President Stuart Appelbaum of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) denounced a proposed federal policy, first reported by the New York Times, to redefine gender under Title IX in a way that will cause tremendous harm to the transgender and gender non-conforming community.