Posts Categorized: Reports

Workers at Bhang Chocolate, a cannabis chocolate company in Oakland, Calif., voted to ratify their first union contract, and become members of UFCW Local 5.

Workers at Bhang Chocolate, a cannabis chocolate company in Oakland, Calif., voted overwhelmingly last week to ratify their first union contract and become members of UFCW Local 5 in San Jose, Calif.

“We’re working towards a better future and this new contract is just the beginning,” said Beny Valencio, a chocolatier who has worked at Bhang Chocolate for more than two years.

The agreement sets new standards and raises the floor for cannabis industry workers. Among other significant gains and protections for workers, the newly ratified contract provides for wage increases, employer health care contributions, paid sick leave and vacation benefits.

“This union contract means everyone at Bhang Chocolate has a voice and everyone will be heard,” said

Becky Strider who has worked as a packer at Bhang Chocolate for the past four years.
Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., award winning Bhang Chocolate, is the premier medically infused chocolate company.

In the United States and Canada, UFCW is the union for workers in the cannabis and hemp industries. UFCW members in the cannabis industry work predominantly in dispensaries, coffee shops, bakeries, patient identification centers, hydroponics stores, and growing and training facilities.

UFCW Local 1161 JBS workers ratified a new contractagreement that increases wages, maintains affordable healthcare, and protects the current 401k plan.

Members of UFCW Local 1161 and workers at the JBS pork processing facility in Worthington, Minn., who belong to UFCW Local 1161 have ratified a new union contract.

“This is a great agreement, not only for JBS workers but the entire Worthington community,” said MikePotter, President of UFCW Local 1161. “This contract means that more than $23 million dollars will be pumped into the local economy over the next five years. Much of our time at the bargaining table was spent working to protect affordable, quality health care. Thanks to the unity of the union membership, and the solidarity shown to us by other UFCW local unions around the country, we were able to hammer out an agreement that keeps workers healthy at a cost that doesn’t threaten the family budget or the company’s ability to grow and make a profit. Negotiations were tough, but ultimately, this agreement shows that sticking together in a union means your voice is heard and respected at work.”

The new contract will:

• Provide wage increases of 12.8% over the life of the five year agreement.
• Include retroactive pay for all hours worked since the expiration of the previous contract. The previous contract expired on June 30, 2013.
• Maintain affordable health care costs for employees with only minor plan changes.
• Establish a low-cost health care clinic in Worthington which means flexible, easily accessible health care to JBS employees with no cost for primary care (checkups, some treatments, minor procedures, and lab work) and low cost prescriptions and immunizations.
• Improve paid leave for the death of a loved one.
• Retain double time on Sunday and time and a half pay on 6th consecutive day worked.
• Retain current 401 K plan.

More than 1,800 people work at the facility slaughtering hogs and processing and packaging pork products. Workers have been at the bargaining table for more than eleven months. In early May, in an effort to protect health care, workers authorized a strike if one became necessary. JBS workers from across the country also engaged in united actions designed to show JBS that preserving affordable health care was an important priority for their families.

The UFCW represents JBS workers at several other locations around the country. Workers are currently at the bargaining table in Greeley, Colo.; Souderton, Penn.; Grand Island, Neb., and Louisville, Ky. Workers in Omaha, Neb., will begin negotiations in the coming months.