Cultivation workers at marijuana multistate operator Cannabist Co.’s Vineland, New Jersey, grow operation have voted to unionize, union officials said.
New York City-headquartered Cannabist, formerly known as Columbia Care Inc., opened the 270,000-square foot cultivation and production facility in Vineland – its second in the state – in June 2022.
In September, 12 workers there voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152, the union said in an Oct. 9 press release.
New Jersey regulators certified the vote on Oct. 6.
In a statement, UFCW Local 152 President Brian String said negotiations on a “fair contract” would commence.
The local recently negotiated contracts for workers at Acreage Holdings-owned The Botanist dispensaries in Egg Harbor and Atlantic City, according to the news release.
Along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the UFCW is one of the major U.S. unions organizing workers in the legal cannabis industry.
Both unions are aggressively courting workers and demonstrating more militancy in dealings with management.
Teamsters-organized dispensary workers at several Chicago-area Green Thumb Industries dispensaries settled a contract in September after going out on strike for 13 days in April, the longest work stoppage so far in U.S. marijuana.
That same month, workers at a Pleasantville, NJ location of Melting Point Extracts also voted to join UFCW Local 152, the union said.
