Employees at an East Hastings cannabis shop have voted to join the BC Budtenders Union, a division of the UFCW 1518.
The move makes the Eggs Canna staff the first private-sector retail workers in the cannabis industry to unionize on the Mainland, according to a post on the union site. UFCW 1518 also represents growers at the Potanicals greenhouse in Peachland; in all, the union represents more than 26,000 workers in retail, grocery, food production, home care and more.
UFCW 1518 Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Johnson noted that 70 per cent of the for-profit cannabis shops in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, have also unionized.
“Today, we’re excited to get behind the Budtenders at Eggs Canna and start to organize around Vancouver. Workers have been at the forefront of this industry from its inception, shapeshifting cannabis to benefit their communities, and their influence is only growing,” Johnson said.
The union says workers want their pay, benefits, respect and overall working conditions to reflect their high-level training, and that with UFCW 1518, Eggs Canna employees and their fellow BC Bud members are poised to raise industry standards.
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