Minnesota Medical Cannabis Workers Join Union

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At least half of Minnesota’s medical marijuana dispensaries will be unionized.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) announced that it has signed a contract with workers at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two companies that will produce MMJ in the state and sell it to patients.

The UFCW is also reportedly in negotiations with LeafLine Labs, the second Minnesota MMJ company that will begin operating later this year. Both companies will have four dispensaries apiece, and the first are expected to open in July.

The development is nothing new for the cannabis industry.

The UFCW, which typically represents employees in grocery stores, has been making inroads with the cannabis industry for some time. It currently represents cannabis workers in California, Colorado and Washington State.

The labor organization also could get involved in New York’s developing cannabis industry as well, since the law there requires all dispensaries to be unionized.

A UFCW spokesman said the deal with Minnesota Medical Solutions involves employees on the cultivation end all the way to the retail side, but the union won’t be representing the company’s pharmacists.