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Can a cultivator earn as much as $40 per hour? Yes, they can!
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.4 million workers across North America. In the United States, UFCW has steadily grown with the cannabis industry to include workers in all seven states that have legalized the production, sale, and distribution of cannabis. UFCW members work in growing facilities, dispensaries, coffee shops, bakeries, and hydroponics stores. In their collective agreements, they have achieved significant benefits, including:
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Defined benefit pension plans
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100% employer-paid health benefits
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Life insurance, medical leave, personal days, paid time off
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Regular pay increases that recognize experience, training, and seniority
For example, cultivators at Minnesota Medical Solutions earn between $23.10 and $31.50 per hour (U.S. dollars). Pharmacy technicians are paid between $26.50 to $29.50 per hour. Cultivators and lab technicians at Waveseer in Las Vegas are paid $17.81 to $21.39 per hour, and extractors earn $18.63 to $21.74 per hour. Service clerks at River City Phoenix in Sacramento, California are paid $18.75 to $19.50 per hour.
When the Canadian exchange rate is taken into account, unionized cannabis workers are paid a minimum of $23 per hour and as much as $40 per hour. And these wages, combined with health and medical benefits, employer-paid pension contributions, and job security, are legally protected in union collective agreements.
As the industry has expanded at a rapid pace in a handful of U.S. states, union pay and benefits are now expected by cannabis workers south of the border. As Canada now positions itself to become the world’s largest cannabis producer and distributor, upwards of 150,000 jobs are expected to be created in our cannabis industry. This means that union wages already achieved in collective agreements should represent the starting point for pay and benefits for cannabis workers in Canada. And it makes sense that such a highly profitable industry should provide workers with a defined benefit pension plan and 100 percent employer-paid health benefits. Simply put, cannabis operators owe it to workers to offer high wages, good benefits, and secure jobs.
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