Employees at a Connecticut cannabis dispensary have unionized, making it the first recreational marijuana retail shop in the state to do so, according to union organizers.
Twelve workers at Caring Nature Dispensary in Waterbury officially formed a union with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 919, the organizing group said. The employees join two cultivation facilities that have also formed unions.
In August, more than 70 employees at Rocky Hill-based cannabis grower and producer CT Pharma, which is also owned by Chicago-based Verano Holdings, formed a union. That was the second cannabis union in the state, following 48 workers at Advanced Grow Labs, owned by Chicago-based multistate cannabis operator Green Thumb Industries, in May.
Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis law requires companies to sign labor peace agreements ensuring they won’t prevent employees from organizing. The agreements, sometimes referred to as neutrality agreements, lay out how companies and labor organizations can behave during union organizing. They require employers to remain neutral during a unionization process, while preventing unions from picketing or holding work stoppages.
In March 2022, the Connecticut AFL-CIO, one of the most powerful unions in Connecticut and nationwide, endorsed the UFCW as the Connecticut Cannabis Union.
