Pubdate: Sat, 05 Mar 2016
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Samantha Masunaga

SANTA ANA POT SHOP UNIONIZES - FIRST IN O. C.

Workers will receive a minimum of $ 13.50 an hour, medical benefits 
under pact that goes into effect Monday.

Orange County's f irst licensed medical marijuana dispensary now has 
an additional distinction: f irst medical cannabis shop in the county 
to unionize.

South Coast Safe Access has signed a collective bargaining agreement 
with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 324 
covering the Santa Ana shop's 20 employees. The contract will go into 
effect Monday.

Workers will be paid at least $ 13.50 an hour and receive employer- 
paid medical benefits and employer contributions to a retirement 
pension, said Rick Eiden, executive vice president of UFCW Local 324. 
The state's minimum wage is $ 10 an hour.

Unionizing

the

shop "really coincides with the work we've done in the retail drug 
industry," Eiden said. "Employees interact with the patients in 
determining their needs and working on a sensible prescription for 
what their needs are."

South Coast Safe Access could not be reached for comment.

The labor agreement is also intended to help increase the industry's 
credibility, Eiden said.

He said the union is talking with other Orange County dispensaries 
about similar labor agreements.

In the city of Los Angeles, 26 medical marijuana dispensaries have 
been unionized, said Rigoberto Valdez, Jr., director of organizing at 
UFCW Local 770.

Unionizing the medical cannabis industry also could provide a boost 
to the union.

"Here in California, we've maintained our numbers in the labor 
movement," Eiden said.

"But we haven't seen large numbers of growth in decades."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom