Cannabis members at Seed & Stone celebrate first contract victory – UFCW 1518

Victoria, B.C. – December 1, 2022 – UFCW 1518 members at Seed & Stone cannabis dispensary are celebrating a first contract victory after unanimously ratifying their new collective agreement that increases wages, job protections and more.

“There is a reason that 75 percent of the private dispensaries in Victoria have organized with our local union,” says UFCW 1518 Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Johnson. “Cannabis workers are realizing that with a union they can have a voice at work, and the more they join the movement, the more power they would build.”

The new contract comes with a 15 percent increase to starting rates, guaranteed wage increases, improvements to breaks and scheduling, in addition to many union security provisions. BC Budtenders Union – a division of UFCW 1518 – has now secured a collective agreement in every bargaining unit certified since a green wave of union organizing swept B.C.’s recreational industry after legalization in 2018.

To read more about the collective bargaining victory at Seed & Stone, click here.

UFCW Local 1518 represents more than 26,000 members working in the community health, hospitality, retail, cannabis, industrial, and professional sectors across British Columbia. To read more about UFCW 1518 and its outstanding work, visit the Local Union’s website.

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