High Profile Buchanan Workers Vote to Unionize with UFCW 951

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 951 announced today workers at High Profile, a cannabis dispensary located in Buchanan, MI, recently voted in favor of UFCW 951 representation.

“The workers at High Profile made their voices heard with this vote, and we are thrilled to welcome them as members of UFCW 951,” John Cakmakci, UFCW 951 president, said. “We celebrate with the High Profile workers and look forward to bargaining a contract that will give them the guarantees and protections in the workplace they deserve.”

Some of the top concerns for the workers at High Profile, who are employed as sales associates, retail inventory leads, and shift leads, include job security and safety issues.  Two other cannabis shops, also located in Buchanan – Zen Leaf and Pinnacle Emporium – joined UFCW 951 in the past year.

“We formed our union to have more protections and to no longer be considered ‘at will’ employees,” Kate Hartley, a worker at the High Profile dispensary, said. “I know being in a union gives us power to bargain with our employer for better wages and working conditions.”

The employees from High Profile are among the tens of thousands of cannabis workers who have joined UFCW locals throughout the U.S. and Canada, thanks to the UFCW International’s Cannabis Workers Rising campaign. Contract negotiations for High Profile workers will begin soon.

   UFCW 951 is a progressive labor union representing nearly 30,000 workers across Michigan in a variety of industries including grocery, retail, food processing, pharmacy, and cannabis, who are employed at a variety of companies including Meijer, Kroger, JBS, JLL, Sunberry Beverages, Polly’s, Harding’s, Grandville Roasting & Packaging Plant and Zen Leaf. The UFCW is the largest private sector union in the United States representing over 1.3 million UFCW members nationwide and UFCW 951 is the largest private sector union in Michigan.

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