Friday, June 24, 2022 – Workers at all nine locations of The Joint Cannabis Shop in Winnipeg are blazing a trail by becoming the first unionized, private-sector cannabis retail chain in Manitoba. Voting took place online from Tuesday, June 21 to Thursday, June 23, when results came in, workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining UFCW Local 832.
The Joint has roughly 100 workers, including management that will join UFCW. The Union will soon reach out to the employer to ask for bargaining dates and start the process of working towards their first collective agreement.
“I want to congratulate these young workers for taking this first step,” said Jeff Traeger, President of UFCW Local 832. “We look forward to working together to improve their workplace and bring them the fairness they deserve.”
UFCW unions across Canada and the U.S. have won many improvements for retail cannabis workers. Members working in the cannabis industry have achieved employer-paid health benefits, pension plan contributions, health and safety enhancements, legally-binding job security, and guaranteed annual pay increases.
UFCW Local 832 is a union that represents over 19,000 Manitoban workers in food production, food distribution, warehousing, hospitality, security, personal care, assisted living, grocery retail and now in cannabis.