Over 180 employees at legal marijuana stores in Illinois and California have unionized.
According to a press release Teamsters Local 777 have reached a tentative agreement with workers at five different marijuana stores in Illinois. All are owned by Verilife, a subsidiary of PharmaCann.
The collective bargaining agreement covers more than 100 workers at Verilife stores in Chicago and suburban Arlington Heights, Ottawa, Romeoville and Rosemont.
“This is a good example of how when employers work with us, we collaborate in a productive manner, and it benefits the workers, the employer, and the customer,” said Jim Glimco, President of Local 777. “Congratulations to everyone on the bargaining committee who worked incredibly hard to secure such a great deal.”
The tentative arrangement includes:
- A 20% wage increase over the lifetime of the agreement.
- More full-time positions.
- Guaranteed gratuities.
- Employer-funded retirement contributions.
In California the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 has unionized an additional 80 marijuana delivery drivers who work at Eaze in San Jose. The agreement is the fifth Eaze depot to unionize with UFCW Local 5 in the past year. Workers of Ease’s subsidiary Stachs joined the UFCW in 2020.
The UFCW Local 5 now represents roughly 1,000 marijuana workers across the Bay Area.
