Category: Cannabis

Latest BC Budtenders contract shows how the green movement has matured 

When the frontline budtenders at Seed & Stone ratified their first collective agreement last week, they didn’t just introduce impressive wage increases and improvements to one store. They brought radical change to three stores! As a result, all workers, present and future, who pass through their doors from here on, will benefit from this deal, which they can continue to improve in subsequent rounds of negotiations.

Some of the significant wins in the agreement include:

• Higher starting rates (an increase of about 15%) 
• Hourly scale with guaranteed wage increases
• Improvements to breaks and scheduling
• A grievance process and shop-steward language

One staff member, who was a leading voice in the first Seed & Stone organizing drive (at the Victoria Fort Street location), credits their incredible contract to the diversity of voices at the table. He said it was a big “morale boost” when the workers from the Delta location joined the union and sat with them at the bargaining table.

“They came to the table with their own energy and their own solidarity,” he says, “which kind of decentralized our movement and made things more threatening for the company and easier, from a solidarity standpoint, knowing that we were independently on the same page.”

By combining forces, workers from the Fort St., Gordon St., and Delta locations maximized their power. But this consolidation only worked because of the mobilizing that each store had done on its own prior to bargaining. In this way, The BC Budtenders Union, while still relatively young, is returning the labour movement to its roots. By decentralizing power, they’ve strengthened their unity and crystalized shared goals.

This power is evidenced in the high engagement at these shops. More dialogue and idea-sharing from everyone fosters community consciousness. What will raise everyone up, equally? This question was at the heart of the Delta organizing drive.

“What personally kept me going was the fact that many of my coworkers depend on this job to be able to afford food, housing, pay bills etc.,” says one member on the mainland. “Seeing how hard each of them work day in and out, I knew we needed things to change.”

Survival instincts often kickstart organizing drives. However, with widespread unionizing, workers can attain the resources that they need to push for more than the bare minimum (and win). One Seed & Stone budtender, who sat on the bargaining team, calls this phenomenon the “leapfrog effect.”

When a new worksite negotiates a contract, “we don’t get a lap around everyone but a few more steps [ahead],” the worker says. “Then the next contract, for either us or another company, gets a few more steps, and with more and more staff who are actualized, activated, and caring about their rights, organizing, and agitating…the quicker we’re all going to improve our industry.”

This change isn’t just theory. It’s happening. Almost three-quarters of the private cannabis retail shops in Victoria are unionized, and now that the Seed & Stone deal is complete, all boast a worker-centric collective agreement – each one better than the next.

Now that the workers at Seed & Stone have a deal with their employer, the next phase of their mobilizing begins. As one budtender puts it, “A contract is great, but it really takes them getting to know that contract and know what their rights are so that they can use it.”

Typically, workers who are the most adept at leveraging their contract have done deep organizing. This is a type of organizing that takes patience and relies on more than just meeting quotas (i.e. simply signing enough union cards to certify with a union). Deep organizing is about ensuring that workers fully understand that they are the union. What they get out of it depends on what they put in.

The Seed & Stone workers, for example, did not look to a UFCW 1518 staff representative to catalyze the change they desired. “I ended up hosting a meeting at my house last year where we discussed what we needed to change – what we wanted out of union representation,” says one of the worker organizers. “Then we had a union rep show up and give us the spiel about the process.” Early dialoguing and consensus-building were key to their success, and it’s this highly localized approach to activism that’s allowing the union to grow provincially.

If you are a budtender or work in a grow-op and are interested in joining a union, learn more at ufcw1518.com/cannabis or contact an organizer today.

Budtenders and staff at three Seed & Stone cannabis shops are celebrating this week, after unanimously voting in favour of their first collective agreement, which will introduce several protections and workplace improvements into the Victoria and Delta dispensaries. The news comes just one week after members of the same union ratified a first contract at two Farm Dispensary locations.

Staff employed at the Seed & Stone Victoria shops joined the BC Budtenders Union – a division of the UFCW 1518 – in 2021. In 2022, workers at the Delta location got mobilized and joined their coworkers, strengthening the union’s power at the bargaining table.

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

By bargaining together, these unionists were able to maximize pressure on the employer and come to an agreement on life-changing workplace improvements, including:

• Higher starting rates (an increase of about 15%)  
• Hourly scale with guaranteed wage increases
• Improvements to breaks and scheduling
• A grievance process and shop-steward language 

“With this contract, the Seed & Stone staff have achieved a fairer and much more respectful workplace,” says Johnson. “Moving forward, they can expect safer working conditions, more opportunities to have a say in how they’re treated, as well as better wages.”

Now that the Seed & Stone deal is ratified, every dispensary in Victoria with BC-Budtenders-Union representation boasts a collective agreement. Across stores, members have revolutionized the industry. As the union grows, diversifies and ages, the standard that they set is only going to get higher.

“Organizing can be a bit intimidating,” Johnson admits, “but their courage pays off, if they stay united. The Seed & Stone staff are a perfect example of how far a calculated risk can carry you. By taking the plunge and organizing, they learned what they’re capable of, then they brought that confidence to the bargaining table and won big.”

The BC Budtender Union is excited for mainland cannabis workers to expand their organizing efforts. This work is already underway; just today, workers at Yaletown Cannabis Store in Vancouver formed a union with the BC Budtenders division. It takes a lot of passion and persistence to launch a movement, but it all starts with a phone call or an email. If you are a cannabis worker in retail or grow-ops, contact UFCW 1518 today.