PORTSMOUTH – Workers at the Greenleaf Compassionate Care center reached their first union contract, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328 announced Thursday.
The compassion center’s unionized employees unanimously approved the two-year agreement, which includes measures such as wage increases for all workers, with raises of up to 22% for employees of more than one year; higher starting rates; paid vacation and improvements to sick time; protected time and a half pay on Sunday; and a $1,000 ratification bonus.
Nicholas Ventetuolo, a delivery driver at Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center and negotiating committee team member, said in a statement that the contract “sets a tremendous precedent for cannabis workers in Rhode Island, at a time where the industry is undergoing massive changes in preparation for the introduction of recreational sales.
“Our contract is a powerful statement on the collective power of a united workforce,” Ventetuolo continued.
Greenleaf employees represent the first compassion center to reach a contract, but unionization has been gaining momentum in the state’s cannabis industry: Previously, workers at Ocean State Cultivation Center in Warwick also voted to unionize and reached a contract in October 2020.
In southeastern Masschusetts, UFCW Local 328 also represents workers at Solar Therapeutics in Somerset and Cresco Labs/Sunnyside in Fall River.
Greenleaf did not return a request for comment on Friday.
Greenleaf employees overwhelmingly voted to unionize in April 2021, at 21 to 1, and later in the spring, UFCW Local 328 filed several unfair labor practice charges against Greenleaf. Greenleaf employees also went on a one-day strike in June 2021 in response to a coworker’s wrongful termination.
The National Labor Relations Board later determined that Greenleaf had committed multiple violations of workers’ rights and called for thousands of dollars in back-pay to affected workers, and the reinstatement of the terminated employee.
The union represents budtenders, keyholders, online orderers and delivery drivers at the compassion center.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
