San Jose is now home to the South Bay’s first unionized cannabis dispensary.
An announcement just after noon on Friday at San Jose City Hall detailed the partnership between MedMen and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 union.
This will be an expansion of the union partnership into the South Bay, as MedMen signed its first collective bargaining agreement with UFCW Local 770 to represent its Los Angeles employees earlier this year. The cannabis retailer has operations across the U.S. and flagship stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York.
UFCW Strategic Campaign Director Jim Araby told San José Spotlight on Thursday that the goal is to set a standard for the rest of the expanding industry.
“(MedMen) has decided that partnering with unions is the way best way to shape the industry moving forward,” Araby said. “Point to another private sector industry that a potentially big player in an emerging market has decided that it’s better to partner with labor than to fight it.”
Union membership at the dispensary, located at 1075 N 10th St. in San Jose, includes nearly $3 above minimum wage in California, two-weeks vacation, a 40 percent employee discount, overtime wage premiums, 10 recognized holidays off and time-and-a-half pay for anyone working on a holiday.
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