By sponsoring booths at cannabis events and meeting employees in person, organizers developed trusting relationships with workers at Sun Extractions in Hamilton, N.J.
The 12 new Sun Extractions union members voted to join Local 360 by card check recently and are negotiating a contract to secure better wages and benefits.
“New Jersey’s cannabis industry is stronger today thanks to this vote by Sun Extractions workers,” said Hugh Giordano, UFCW Local 360 Director of Organizing. “Sustainable success for businesses, employees, and communities starts with fair treatment, strong standards, and shared commitments. That’s how jobs in the cannabis industry become long-term careers, and it’s the future these employees are working toward.”
The extraction employees are the latest to join UFCW Local 360 as part of its ongoing Cannabis Workers Rising campaign, which aims to improve labor standards and boost worker, consumer, and community safety across the state’s legal marijuana industry.
UFCW Local 360 President Sam Ferraino Jr. says the vote adds to the momentum of support for improved worker protections and benefits throughout the industry.
“We’re welcoming the workers of Sun Extractions into the Local 360 family. Seeing the hard work of our members move an entire industry forward, and hearing from other states, they look to New Jersey as a model of how to do it right,” Ferraino said. “It’s another proof point for what we always say: stronger unions mean stronger industries and stronger communities. And that’s worth celebrating.”
The UFCW represents tens of thousands of cannabis workers across the country in dispensaries, labs, delivery, kitchens, manufacturing, processing, grow facilities, and more.