{"id":166,"date":"2026-06-01T16:04:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:04:50","slug":"phoenix-curaleaf-workers-decertify-union-days-after-ratifying-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=166","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Curaleaf workers decertify union days after ratifying contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In a nearly unanimous vote, employees at the Curaleaf dispensary on Camelback Road voted to decertify their union just days after a four-year contract negotiation resulted in guaranteed wage increases.<\/p>\n

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The move comes as a surprise, given how hard Curaleaf employees fought to form a union and win a contract.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, employees voted to unionize at the Curaleaf location. The company challenged that move in court. A National Labor Relations Board judge upheld the vote, and a federal court affirmed that decision in September 2024 after Curaleaf appealed. Throughout that time, employees\u2019 efforts to negotiate with the union were unsuccessful. In February 2024, the NLRB found that Curaleaf had unlawfully refused to bargain with the union and ordered it to participate in contract talks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Employees continued to protest outside the building over the stalled negotiations. In the meantime, an employee at a different Curaleaf location was fired in retaliation for union organizing, the NLRB found. Curaleaf was forced to reinstate him. That location ratified its contract with the company in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, as of early May, unionizing efforts at the Curaleaf location at 10th Place and Camelback Road appear to have failed. In early April, Curaleaf budtender Jennifer Mooney filed a petition to decertify or dissolve the location\u2019s union, which is organized under the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99. Essentially, the location\u2019s 25 employees would cast ballots to indicate whether they still wanted a union.<\/p>\n

Before that vote took place, the union\u2019s bargaining unit at the location reached a tentative agreement with the company. The contract solidified the benefits employees currently had and implemented guaranteed wage increases and additional protections, said UFCW Local 99 spokesperson Drake Ridge. On April 21, employees voted to ratify that contract, though that vote had \u201cfairly low participation,\u201d Ridge said. \u201cOnly a handful of people came out and voted for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite finally reaching a contract after a four-year fight, Curaleaf dispensary workers voted 14-1 to decertify the union just 10 days later. That nullified the contract, which Ridge called \u201can unfortunate loss for workers.\u201d An objection to the vote was filed on May 8 with the NLRB, which has not yet ruled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of the reason why companies drag their feet in negotiations: to draw the process out, so that workers get frustrated and then decide to decertify,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is really an unfortunate example of that in a situation where workers were so close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curaleaf did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times.<\/p>\n

\n

Union-busting org involved<\/h2>\n

Mooney\u2019s petition was backed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represented her. The Foundation\u2019s mission is to \u201celiminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information, and education programs,\u201d according to its website. Put more simply: It wants to bust unions.<\/p>\n

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In a press release from the foundation, Mooney thanked it for assisting her and said, \u201cMy colleagues and I didn\u2019t appreciate how UFCW officials ignored our interests and tried to force a contract that we didn\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached by phone, foundation spokesperson Mohamad Ali Kharda told New Times that Mooney was unable to comment further because of the NLRB complaint. Ridge said Mooney wasn\u2019t involved in the initial authorization vote in 2022, wasn\u2019t on the bargaining committee and didn\u2019t vote in the election to ratify the contract.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement to New Times, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation president Patrick Semmens said it was the organization\u2019s understanding that the decision to remove the union was \u201cmotivated by the employees\u2019 general frustration with the union\u2019s poor communication regarding the process of bargaining.\u201d He added that the proposed contract \u201cobviously didn\u2019t meet the needs of workers who rejected it,\u201d calling the contract vote a \u201crushed attempt to block the decertification campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the company made it difficult for the union to speak directly with employees, according to two unfair labor practice complaints filed by UFCW Local 99 against Curaleaf. The two complaints, filed about a month apart in April and May, claim that Curaleaf created \u201cthe impression among its employees that their union and protected rights are under surveillance,\u201d threatened to trespass and call the police on its employee and union representative and made \u201cunilateral changes without bargaining with the union.\u201d Additionally, the union requested access to the store several times to speak with employees but was told by Curaleaf\u2019s labor relations staffers that they weren\u2019t allowed inside the store, specifically the break room.<\/p>\n

The NLRB has yet to rule on those complaints.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These actions by Curaleaf are a \u201creally typical union-busting tactic\u201d that \u201cmade it really difficult to access employees and talk to them,\u201d Ridge said. He also said that the location saw significant turnover \u2014 the company hired a bunch of new employees in the few weeks leading up to the two elections, which Ridge said \u201chappens often and can result in a poor outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkers are coming in; they\u2019re being told about union dues and that there\u2019s going to be an election and we don\u2019t have enough time to explain the four years of progress leading up to it,\u201d Ridge said. \u201cWhen you have the biggest union-busting firm in the world involved in litigating a case like this, it\u2019s hard to get workers the right information to fully understand their rights.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Curaleaf budtenders could rejoin the union, but they\u2019d have to start the process all over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely their right to do that,\u201d Ridge said. \u201cThe union is always here to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Petersen calls Glassman a \u2018criminal,\u2019 gay-bashes Kris Mayes at debate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A national union-busting organization threw its might behind the effort to disband the union at the Phoenix Camelback location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana"],"yoast_head":"\nPhoenix Curaleaf workers decertify union days after ratifying contract - Phoenix Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phoenix Curaleaf workers decertify union days after ratifying contract - 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