Cannabis Workers At Three March and Ash Locations Unionize

SAN DIEGO, CA — Cannabis workers at March and Ash locations in San Diego and Imperial counties voted this week to ratify the first cannabis industry union contract originating in the Southern California counties, it was announced Friday.

The locations unionizing include retail outlets in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, Vista and Imperial -- in Imperial County. The City Heights and Imperial locations offer recreational cannabis products, while the Vista location is medicinal only.

A fourth location, in Mission Valley, has not joined the union.

Collective bargaining came to a conclusion Wednesday night after two years of organizing and negotiating among the United Food and Commercial Workers Union's Local 135 and the ownership group of March and Ash.

"This contract will create career jobs and promote an industry setting standard that is needed to ensure that cannabis workers are accepted and valued," said Todd Walters, president of the UFCW Local 135. "This industry-leading contract will create a new model for March and Ash employees, and other workers in the industry, by providing training, educational opportunities, childcare and more.

"We are proud of the work put in and are honored to have delivered a contract worthy of these cannabis workers," Walters continued.

Although the pandemic presented delays and hurdles, the parties late last year made the decision to continue to work in earnest through those hurdles to develop a framework that worked for the local industry and its employees.

Union officials said they appreciate the good faith negotiations and commitments made by March and Ash through the creation of this partnership and the Collective Bargaining Agreement created by the parties.

"It was important to us that we broke apart old models and crafted something that worked for our company, its workers, and the communities we serve; proving that we can improve the places we live by delivering a contract that is rooted in our workforce and local economy," said Breton Peace, general counsel for March and Ash. "We took the time to understand what it is our employees need and want. Health care benefits, subsidized childcare in an industry with many young single or co-parent arrangements and worker participation in the upside so this can be a career."

Walters said he believes the honest and cooperative approach between labor and industry enhances the value to all parties, and this contract "sets the gold standard in the unionized cannabis industry and will be used as a model in future negotiations with companies whose workers choose to go union."

Peace said the union had operated in good faith in creating a new labor agreement and the company and its employees could move forward from the negotiating table together for responsible cannabis use.

"The March and Ash responsible adult-use model is rooted in respect for the community including the people who did not vote to legalize cannabis," Peace said. "We're well aware that we can only deliver on that promise through our employees."

UFCW Local 135 -- which represents around 13,000 workers and nearly 7,000 retirees in San Diego and Imperial Counties in various fields including grocery and retail, health, pharmacy and dental, meat and sugar processing, casino and cannabis -- has three cannabis companies with a total of six locations under its jurisdiction.

— City News Service