Employees of New York marijuana business Verilife, operated by multistate cannabis company PharmaCann, voted to ratify a three-year union contract.
According to a news release, the contract with the Local 338 Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU)/United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) covers approximately 60 workers at PharmaCann’s cultivation and processing facility in Orange County, New York.
The contract will be in effect for three years and includes increased wages and benefits, including:
- Annual wage increases and bonuses. Members’ hourly pay rate will increase by $1.25 per hour in the first year and 3.75% in the second and third years.
- A higher minimum starting rate for all new hires.
- Additional paid time off and two new paid holidays.
- The company will provide workers with an increase to their annuity benefit, as well as a new 401(k)-matching program.
Local 338 represents roughly 500 workers at seven medical cannabis companies in New York across the industry’s supply chain.
According to the release, the union plans to begin contract talks next month with PharmaCann regarding the company’s four dispensaries.
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The new union contract represents the UFCW’s latest successful unionization drive at U.S. marijuana firms.
Most recently, workers at New Jersey cannabis company Verano NJ voted to ratify a union contract with local chapters 152 and 360 of the UFCW.
