Trulieve workers nab Arizona’s first union contract for weed growers

For the first time in 25 years, Arizona agricultural workers ratified a union contract — and it was for workers growing weed.

Wednesday night, workers at Trulieve’s notoriously odoriferous Magnolia production facility in Phoenix near Interstate 10 approved a three-year union contract, becoming the first cannabis cultivators in state history to get one. Other weed workers have secured union deals, but to this point, they’ve all been point-of-purchase employees, not weed growers.

It’s the second time the workers have notched a trailblazing accomplishment — in January 2024, they formed the first agricultural union Arizona had seen in 24 years, voting 37-4 to unionize with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99. They began negotiating a collective bargaining agreement thereafter.

UFCW Local 99 is Arizona’s largest private sector union, representing 25,000 workers at Fry’s Food Stores, Safeway, cannabis dispensaries and other employers throughout the southwest. UFCW Local 99 helped dispensary workers at Sunday Goods in Tempe and Zen Leaf locations in Chandler and Phoenix ratify union contracts.

Its spokesperson, Drake Ridge, described the Trulieve contract as a major win for the workers. Ridge told Phoenix New Times that while the vote was not unanimous, it was overwhelmingly in favor of the new contract.

“This is the first step into being able to have a career in the industry and being able to plan their lives around when they’re going to get raises, promotions and pay on holidays,” Ridge said. “It’s huge to have this kind of stability in this industry.”

The contract includes guaranteed wage increases, paid holidays, vacation and sick leave. It also provides for insurance coverage, establishes due process guidelines for discipline and grants employees the ability to take home product samples every month, the last of which Ridge said was important to the workers.


Larry Terrell, a 53-year-old Trulieve cultivator who was part of a three-person bargaining team, said workers were “gung ho” about getting a contract and were happy with the end result. Before working in the weed industry, Terrell spent 27 years as a union worker for Southwest Airlines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

“I’m telling you, if you ever read them bumper stickers on the street that say, ‘Work union, live better,’ that’s a true statement,” Terrell said. “It was an eye-opener coming to the cannabis industry from the airline industry. I just felt like the workers’ rights weren’t all there. I feel like they didn’t treat their employees very well.”

Terrell added that he’d like to see more cannabis workers unionized, adding that it’s good for both workers and the company.

“For what these companies make, they can afford to pay their workers a livable wage,” he said. “These guys and girls work their butts off in there. It’s not an easy task. A lot of people see the glamorous side of cannabis and it’s not always that. It’s work.”

Fellow bargaining committee member Allyson Grubbe said in a written statement that the workers are “setting a precedent” for union organizing in cannabis cultivation. “I feel really proud of everyone at Magnolia for pushing through and having faith in what we were doing to get better pay and benefits for not just us, but everyone in the cannabis industry,” Grubbe wrote.

The Trulieve vote is only the second time that Arizona agricultural workers have voted for union recognition since the state established its Agricultural Labor Relations Board in 1993. The previous instance was in 2000, when workers unionized at the now-defunct Eurofresh tomato hothouse in Willcox.