On April 7, the UFCW hosted a Green Thumb Industries (GTI) call with locals and members who work for the major cannabis employer. Over 30 people from UFCW Locals 328, 338, 371, 711, 770, 919, 1189, 1445, 1459, and 1776 and seven GTI facilities around the country joined the call to find new ways to for members to work together to increase worker power within union facilities and across the company. The call also laid the foundation for a national committee of GTI workers who support one another throughout organizing and bargaining campaigns, with the goal of expanding this effort to other large cannabis multi-state operators like Curaleaf and Verano.
UFCW locals around the country represent hundreds of GTI workers in eight states from cultivation and processing facilities to delivery and retail stores. While other meetings with local unions about this cannabis employer have taken place, this was the first call that included GTI members under contract, workers in the organizing process, and workers who are still bargaining for a first contract.
During the call, participants had a lively discussion about workplace issues—including serious safety concerns and employer policies that are impacting nonunion workers. UFCW members also shared how having a union contract has improved the working conditions for those in the union facilities. The members and future members left the call empowered to share with their co-workers that there is a group working nationally to continue to improve GTI and the cannabis industry. They pledged to reach out to nonunion workers they know at other facilities and to start thinking of ways that they will be able to contribute to the growing worker movement within GTI.
“Since GTI is one of the largest cannabis companies in the country, when we raise the standards for GTI workers, we can raise the standards across the industry, something the UFCW’s Cannabis Workers Rising program has been doing for nearly two decades,” said Megan Carvalho, who is an organizing coordinator for the UFCW’s cannabis program.
The UFCW is planning to have national meetings throughout 2024 to plan more coordinated actions, as well as coordinated organizing and bargaining with major employers in the cannabis industry. For more information, contact Megan Carvalho at mcarvalho@ufcw.org.