Cannabis Workers Unionize to Make the US’s 1st Cannabis Union

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 Keystone State and Vireo Health International, Inc. announced that workers at Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, voted overwhelmingly to ratify a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and officially join the ranks of UFCW 1776KS.

Pennsylvania Medical Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vireo, a leading physician-led, science-focused, multi-state cannabis company.

The 3-year agreement marks the first vertically integrated medical cannabis union contract ratified in Pennsylvania. The agreement will cover employees working in Vireo’s Scranton-based, state-of-the-art 89,000 square-foot manufacturing facility that supplies precisely formulated medical marijuana products to third-party dispensaries throughout the state. The agreement also includes employees that will work at Vireo dispensaries planned for Scranton, Bethlehem, and Stroudsburg.

“As a socially responsible business, Vireo is deeply committed to its employees and is proud to be a union employer,” said Kyle Kingsley, M.D., CEO of Vireo Health. “We believe that a unionized workforce is key to our company’s success and look forward to partnering with UFCW to support legislation, such as legalizing adult-use cannabis, that will help create thousands of new middle-class jobs across the Keystone State.”

The union played an integral part in the passage of medical cannabis legislation in Pennsylvania, working closely with Governor Tom Wolf and lawmakers to help pass the legislation in 2016.