Workers at a Trulieve Cannabis Corp. cultivation facility in Phoenix became the first agricultural-sector employees in 25 years to sign a union contract in Arizona.
According to Phoenix New Times, the Trulieve employees on Wednesday became the first marijuana cultivation workers to sign a union contract in the state.
All other marijuana industry employees in Arizona that have signed union-negotiated contracts work in retail, at stores or delivery services.
And the only other example of agricultural workers unionizing in Arizona came in 2000, when employees of a now-closed tomato hothouse voted to organize, Phoenix New Times reported.
There are 43 employees at Trulieve’s Magnolia production facility in central Phoenix, where workers first voted in January 2024 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99.
According to union officials, among the rights that workers secured in the contract ratified Wednesday are:
- Guaranteed wage increases.
- The right to take product home to sample.
Agricultural-sector workers, a category that includes workers at cannabis cultivation and production facilities, are generally more difficult to organize.
That’s in part because the federal National Labor Relations Act specifically excludes ag workers.
As a result, agricultural workers must rely on state law.
Labor unions have struggled to break into the cannabis sector in Arizona.
Employees at a Curaleaf Holdings marijuana store in Phoenix went on strike in September 2023 after negotiations failed to yield a contract.
And in February, workers at a Curaleaf store in Tucson voted against unionization, according to NLRB records.
Union momentum in cannabis appears to have stalled recently after years of organizing successes.
