UFCW Local 152 Helps Secure Contract for New Jersey Cannabis Workers at Columbia Care

In a July 3, 2025, press release, UFCW Local 152 announced that workers at Columbia Care, a cannabis cultivation facility in Vineland, New Jersey, had secured their first a union contract (1). This contract, ratified on June 23, 2025, had been a process several years in the making, originally beginning in November 2022, when members had initially pursued union representation.

“We are proud to have helped these workers overcome numerous setbacks,” stated UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross, Jr., in the press release. “These folks ultimately ratified a first contract that protects their interests, charts a path for future gains and rewards their hard work in a meaningful way.”

The contract guarantees retroactive wage increases for the members, along with employer-paid ancillary benefits – including legal services, vision care, and life insurance – through the union’s Health & Welfare Fund. Members had voted “overwhelmingly” for the contract (1).

In 2023 had organized with UFCW, which helped request a determination of the workers’ status as agricultural workers by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), due to an argument presented by Columbia Care. “This was a classic anti-union stall tactic meant to stifle workers’ momentum to organize,” President Ross explained. Ultimately, the NLRB concluded that the employees were not under their jurisdiction. The New Jersey State Board of Mediation certified the bargaining unit.

The press release explained that this process had led UFCW to pursue bill A4182, which “concerns conditions of employment of certain cannabis workers” and had passed in the Assembly on June 30, 2025 (2). “This bill provides cannabis workers employed by cannabis employers rights and protections equal to the rights and protections provided to other workers with respect to employee representation, collective bargaining, and unfair labor practices,” the bill states (2). S3139, which also concerns cannabis worker employment conditions, was introduced in the Senate in 2024 and is currently pending a vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee (3).

“These workers never gave up despite an atrociously long road to their first contract,” President Ross added. “Through all the delays brought on by the employer, Local 152 stood with these workers to ensure they had their seat at the table and won their first contract.”

Other union activity has been happening in New Jersey as well. In May 2025, Teamsters Local 469 announced (4) that the union had ratified their first contract, a collective bargaining agreement, in New Jersey with members from the Garden Society. The contract included wage increases, employer-funded retirement contributions, increased paid time off, and more. Soon after the Garden Society had ratified their first contract, Cannabist workers joined the Teamsters Local 469.

“What you're seeing in New Jersey in indicative of what you're going to see all over the country,” commented Jesse Case, Teamsters Food Processing Division Director, in an April 30, 2025, press release (4).

References

1. UFCW Local 152. Cannabis Workers at Columbia Care Stay Determined, Ratify First Contract https://ufcwlocal152.org/news/cannabis-workers-at-columbia-care-stay-determined-ratify-first-contract/ (accessed July 7, 2025).
2. State of New Jersey 221st Legislature. Assembly, No. 4182 https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2024/A4500/4182_I1.PDF (accessed July 7, 2025).
3. State of New Jersey 221st Legislature. Senate, No. 3139 https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2024/S3500/3139_I1.HTM (accessed July 7, 2025).
4. Colli, M. Teamsters Local 469 Obtains First NJ Contract https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/teamsters-local-469-obtains-first-nj-contract (accessed July 7, 2025).