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Medical Marijuana Workers Unionizing
by John Ingold The state's largest labor union today announced that it has hundreds of new members from the medical-marijuana industry. Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said in a statement that the new members come from a "comprehensive cross section" of the industry. The union, which has 25,000 members statewide, said it would announce more details at a news conference Monday. The union put the total number of jobs in the medical-marijuana industry in Colorado at 8,000, though it is unclear how it came to that number. In the union's announcement, Steve Ackerman of the Organic Alternatives dispensary in Fort Collins said the pairing of the UFCW and the medical-marijuana industry are a natural fit. Kim Cordova, the union's president, echoed that. "We are the retail food, pharmacy, agriculture, food processing, and healthcare Union in Colorado and around the nation," Cordova said in the announcement. The move solidifies a surprising allegiance that has developed between marijuana advocates and the UFCW in recent years. Last year, hundreds of California medical-marijuana industry workers joined the UFCW. That included dozens at businesses run by an Oakland cannabis entrepreneur who was the main backer of an initiative to legalize marijuana in that state. The UFCW endorsed the initiative and took an active role in the campaign, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The medical-marijuana unionization in Colorado comes as cannabis activists here are working to put a marijuana-legalization measure on the 2012 statewide ballot. Today's announcement from Local 7, though, made no mention of the Colorado legalization campaign. |
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