O, Cannabis!A British Columbia pot franchise is laying claim to becoming the province’s first completely unionized cannabis chain and, indeed, one of the first in North America.That’s because workers at Trees Cannabis locations in Nanaimo and Victoria have joined the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in a drive to unionize the province’s weed workers.The BC Budtenders Union, a division of UFCW 1518, formed in 2020 when cannabis workers in Victoria united as the first unionized dispensaries in Canada and now represents 75% of private dispensaries in Victoria..In a statement, the UFCW said the workers are “united in the fight for safety, fair wages and respect for the vital role they play in their workplaces.”“We are proud to welcome UFCW 1518’s newest members as they make history by organizing as the province's first private wall-to-wall unionized cannabis chain,” said UFCW President Kim Novak. “These workers are setting a new standard for the cannabis industry, and we anticipate that their achievement will send shockwaves across the cannabis labour landscape, empowering workers across Canada to demand fairness and respect in their own workplaces.”.The new Trees members join workers across various sectors of BC’s unionized economy, including food, healthcare, commercial and industrial industries. In recent years there has been a push to unionize the sector in Canada and the US even as union membership is declining in other parts of the country."As the cannabis industry grows and reaches new frontiers, we are proud to be at the forefront of ensuring our rights and jobs are protected,” said a Trees Cannabis member. “We love what we do, we are good at it and we deserve to thrive in the cannabis industry.”But to call the company ‘wall-to-wall’ unionized is a bit of a misnomer. That’s because cannabis production encompasses farming, processing as well as retailing..“We love what we do, we are good at it, and we deserve to thrive in the cannabis industry.”Budtender.In other parts of Canada agricultural workers aren’t allowed to strike, and the UFCW has been taking major pot producers to court to have it overturned.In March of 2022, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed a UFCW bid to allow cannabis production workers the right to unionize.The courts concluded that the cannabis production workers were ‘agricultural’ workers and were therefore excluded from the Ontario Labour Relations Act. This meant that they were denied the right to unionize with the benefits and protections of the Act.
