Cannabis cultivation employees at a Cresco Labs facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, completed the process to unionize.
According to a news release, “an overwhelming majority of workers” were officially certified by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328, which now allows the employees to negotiate a union contract.
Cresco Labs, a multistate marijuana company based in Chicago, operates a cultivation and processing facility as well as Sunnyside Dispensary in Fall River.
In unionizing, the Fall River workers join Cresco employees in Chicago as well as workers at other cannabis companies in Massachusetts.
This latest move to unionize by Massachusetts workers comes as the marijuana industry in the state surpassed $1 billion in sales since adult-use sales began two years ago.
“We applaud cannabis workers for forming unions to make sure that, as this industry grows, workers are able to share in the success,” said Timothy Melia, president of UFCW Local 328.
“The cannabis industry should be a place where workers earn a living wage, have access to affordable health care and protection from unfair discipline and discrimination.”
According tot he union, more than 10,000 cannabis workers nationwide have joined the UFCW at laboratories, processing and manufacturing facilities, cultivation facilities and medical and adult-use dispensaries.