Trulieve marijuana cultivation workers in Arizona make labor history

Workers at an infamously smelly Trulieve Cannabis Corp. cultivation facility in Phoenix became the first agricultural-sector employees to sign a union contract in Arizona in 25 years on Wednesday.

As the Phoenix New Times reported, the Trulieve employees are also the first marijuana cultivation workers to sign a union contract in the state.

All other employees in the state that have signed union-negotiated contracts work in retail, at marijuana stores or delivery services.

And the only other example of agricultural workers unionizing in Arizona came in 2000, when employees of a now-closed tomato hothouse voted to organize.

There are 43 employees at Trulieve’s Magnolia production facility in central Phoenix, where workers first voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 in January 2024.

According to union officials, among the rights that workers secured in the contract ratified Wednesday are

• Guaranteed wage increases.
• The right to take product home to sample.

Agricultural-sector workers, a category that includes workers at cannabis cultivation and production facilities, are generally more difficult to organize.

That’s in part because the federal National Labor Relations Act specifically excludes ag workers.

As a result, ag workers must rely on state law.

Labor unions have still struggled to break into the cannabis sector in Arizona.

Workers at a Curaleaf Holdings marijuana store in Phoenix went on strike last September after negotiations failed to yield a contract.

And in February, workers at a Curaleaf store in Tucson voted against unionization, according to NLRB records.

Union momentum in cannabis appears to have stalled recently after years of organizing successes.