On Saturday, April 20 at 10 a.m., the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 99 held a rally with workers, elected leaders, and community people to advocate for safer working conditions, full-time employment, a living wage, and job dignity for Arizona cannabis workers.
On Saturday, in 90-degree weather coinciding with 4/20, approximately two dozen unionized cannabis workers and allies held a two-hour picket outside a Phoenix marijuana dispensary at the center of delayed bargaining negotiations.
Cannabis workers in Phoenix have shown great solidarity and commitment by taking to the streets to demand better working conditions, full-time employment, and a living wage. Organized protests highlighted the issues that employees experience in a sector that is continuously expanding yet frequently fails to address their well-being.
As reported by Phoenix New Times, “Make no mistake — cannabis workers make 4/20 possible,” said Drake Ridge, assistant director of communications for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99, which organized the event. “Cannabis in Arizona is now a multibillion-dollar industry, and the very workers who made this prosperity possible cannot be left behind.”
Since recreational cannabis was legalized in Arizona in 2020, the sector has grown, but not everyone has celebrated its success. With limited licenses and a quest for vertical integration, strong cannabis enterprises have purchased out locally-owned businesses.
According to High Times, legal marijuana sales had surpassed $1 billion in 2022.
As earnings increased, so did a drive to organize cannabis workers in Arizona. UFCW Local 99 has led the effort to unionize dispensaries across the state through the Cannabis Workers Rising campaign.
Despite opposition from corporations such as Curaleaf, which dismissed one of its employees, Anissa Keane, in 2020 for seeking to unionize a dispensary, the campaign has had some significant achievements. Dispensaries across the state, including two Zen Leaf and two Curaleaf sites in metro Phoenix, voted to unionize and are now negotiating contracts.
The protesters want safer working conditions, full-time employment, and a decent wage, according to Arizona Central. Nicholas Fredrickson rallied alongside other Curaleaf employees at a rally organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 99 at a company store on East Camelback Road near North Seventh Street. Workers rallied for safer working conditions, full-time employment, and a livable wage, according to organizers.
Fredrickson, who was ready to start a shift at another Curaleaf shop, said the remuneration for cannabis employees isn’t keeping up with the cost of living, as it was when he first started in the sector five years ago. As per AZ Central, “We were able to comfortably take care of our families,” Fredrickson said of the period before recreational marijuana became legal in 2020.
To end the action, union organizers delivered a letter to dispensary management in response to their purported retraction of anticipated salary increases following the NLRB’s negotiating order on February 29.
The letter accused disinformation about the bargaining process and wage raises. A brief standoff occurred outside the dispensary between chanting protestors seeking to enter the establishment and a man dressed in sunglasses and a Phoenix Suns cap. The man, named by union organizers as the store manager, eventually accepted the letter and carried it inside.
According to Benzinga, “The Union just asks that Curaleaf provide notice of the hikes and allow the Union to rapidly assess the plan for any concerns, like as fairness. Of course, the Union and Curaleaf may reach an agreement on future rises through negotiating, but Curaleaf employees have waited long enough for a pay boost,” the letter stated.
According to UFCW Local 99 spokesperson Drake Ridge, during a Sept. 15 protest at Curaleaf’s Dispensary Midtown, the corporation called police on picketers for trespassing, including Fredrickson, who did not march to the store on Saturday because of this.
“The retaliation has been strong with this company, especially recently,” he said. “I believe they are being more aggressive to shake up the workforce and remove the strong voices and leaders so that when they do sit down with us, we will have a much lower chance of receiving the contract we deserve.