On June 23, members of UFCW Local 152 who work at the Columbia Care cannabis cultivation facility in Vineland, N.J., ratified their first union contract, capping off a years-long journey of determination and persistence.
The first contract, effective from June 2025 through December 2028, provides substantial retroactive wage increases for all members. This wage increase now brings their wages to industry-leading levels above their non-union counterparts. The agreement also provides for 100 percent employer-paid ancillary benefits through the union’s Health & Welfare Fund. Valuable benefits such as prepaid legal services, life insurance, and vision care were negotiated at no cost to the workers, in addition to all the protections and guarantees found in the four corners of a bona fide labor agreement.
These members first sought union representation with UFCW Local 152 in November 2022. UFCW Local 152 was forced to engage in a protracted legal process for recognition as the employer opposed our union’s effort to have the New Jersey State Board of Mediation certify the bargaining unit. Columbia Care argued that the employees may or may not have been “agricultural workers” under federal labor law.
UFCW Local 152 was forced to seek a determination from the NLRB, which eventually found that the employees were not under its jurisdiction. New Jersey law and regulations in the cannabis industry permit all cannabis workers to organize regardless of whether federal labor laws apply. The New Jersey Board of Mediation eventually certified the unit, finally allowing these workers the opportunity to negotiate with their employer.
“We are proud to have helped these workers overcome numerous setbacks,” said UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross Jr. “These folks ultimately ratified a first contract that protects their interests, charts a path for future gains and rewards their hard work in a meaningful way.”
This unnecessary delay in negotiations with Columbia Care spurred UFCW Local 152 to pursue NJ Bill A4182, which will simply close this loophole and clearly afford cultivation workers in New Jersey the same rights to the organizing process as all other workers who are not protected by federal labor law, regardless of whether a Labor Peace Agreement is in effect. This bill passed the final stage of approval by the New Jersey Assembly on June 30 with bipartisan support. Its Senate counterpart, S3139, is now awaiting a vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“These workers never gave up despite an atrociously long road to their first contract,” said Ross. “Through all the delays brought on by the employer, Local 152 stood with these workers to ensure they had their seat at the table and won their first contract.”