MECHANICSVILLE, Md. (October 13, 2023) – Today, the staff of Story cannabis dispensary in Mechanicsville, Md. announced they voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing with United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 Union.
The workers organizing committee released the following statement:
“We are stoked on the outcome of our election, and it just further illustrates what we already knew: we are a team that works together for the benefit of our patients, our community, and ourselves as workers. We are excited to continue providing the best medicine and overall experience to our patients and our adult-use customers. We look forward to getting down to business and negotiating a contract.”
The workers filed for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board in August after a super majority of eligible employees signed authorization cards in support of unionizing. Voting took place in the shop on Thursday and workers voted 14–2 in favor of unionizing. The union covers 20 employees at the Mechanicsville dispensary located at 28105 Three Notch Road.
According to the company’s website, Story operates four dispensaries in Maryland, four in Arizona, and two in Ohio. The Mechanicsville location is the first union shop in the company nationwide.
The staff at Story Cannabis are joined by other cannabis dispensaries in the region that have recently unionized. On August 11, workers at Zen Leaf in Germantown, Md. ratified their first union contract with UFCW Local 400. In the Baltimore region, workers at the Zen Leaf dispensary in Towson, Md. joined UFCW Local 27 in July, shortly after workers at the PharmaCann Verilife Dispensary in Westminster unionized in June. In 2020, workers at MaryMed, LLC in Hurlock, Md., became the first workplace in the state’s cannabis industry to reach an agreement on a union contract. That same year, workers at DC Holistic Wellness became the first dispensary in the nation’s capital to unionize.
###
United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 is led by President Mark Federici and represents 35,000 members working in the grocery, retail, health care, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. www.ufcw400.org