MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (August 13, 2024) – Today, workers at The Apothecarium cannabis dispensary in Burtonsville, Md. and Sweetspot cannabis dispensary in Olney, Md. announced plans to unionize with United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 Union.
The workers released the following joint statement on their efforts:
“We, the workers of The Apothecarium Burtonsville and Sweetspot Olney, have filed for union elections to join UFCW Local 400. We are grateful for our community, from patients to customers alike, for their support in fair treatment and compensation of workers. We look forward to voting for our union when we receive our dates from the National Labor Relations Board and bargaining our first contracts alongside the other The Apothecarium/Terrascend and Sweetspot locations that have recently unionized across the country. We’re all in this together and we are proud to be part of the wave of unionizing workers throughout our industry.”
Today’s announcement comes shortly after workers at The Apothecarium location in Cumberland, Md. voted unanimously to unionize with UFCW Local 27 on Friday.
The workers filed for union elections through the National Labor Relations Board after a majority of eligible employees signed authorization cards in support of unionizing. The union would cover 11 employees at The Apothecarium Burtonsville dispensary located at 4009 Sandy Spring Road and 14 employees at Sweetspot located at 18070 Georgia Ave in Olney.
The two groups of workers are joined by other cannabis dispensaries in the region that have recently unionized, including: Green Goods in Rockville, Md.; Story Cannabis in Mechanicsville, Md.; Potomac Holistics in Rockville, Md.; Zen Leaf in Germantown, Md. and Zen Leaf in Towson, Md.; PharmaCann Verilife Dispensary in Westminster, Md.; and MaryMed, LLC in Hurlock, Md., among others.
For more information on UFCW’s work across the cannabis industry, visit ufcw.org/cannabis.
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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