UFCW organizes medical marijuana workers in Minnesota

St. Paul, Minn. – March 9, 2015 – Workers at Minnesota Medical Solutions are among the newest members of the UFCW International Union, having ratified their first contract. Minnesota Medical Solutions provides medicinal marijuana for patients in the state of Minnesota.

Having passed laws to legalize the use of medicinal marijuana last year, Minnesota's initial eight medical marijuana dispensaries are scheduled to start opening on July 1st, the first day medical cannabis can be dispensed in the U.S. state. UFCW will represent workers at four of those dispensaries. Workers will be represented by UFCW Local 1189 across the production chain.

"It'll be the people who are involved in the basic horticulture, the harvesting of the product, the extraction and then the distribution and the retail end, " said UFCW Local 1189 Organizer Bernie Hesse.

The first contract ratified at Minnesota Medical Solutions lasts for three years.

UFCW has organized cannabis workers in other states in the U.S., including California, Colorado, and Washington.