18 June 4th - June 10th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Disunited Phoenix Curaleaf workers decertify their union just days after ratifying a new contract. BY MORGAN FISCHER I n a nearly unanimous vote, employees at the Curaleaf dispen- sary on Camelback Road voted to decertify their union just days after a four-year contract negotiation resulted in guaranteed wage increases. The move comes as a surprise, given how hard Curaleaf employees fought to form a union and win a contract. 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’ 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. 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 orga- nizing, the NLRB found. Curaleaf was forced to reinstate him. That location ratified its contract with the company in May. 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 peti- tion to decertify or dissolve the location’s union, which is organized under the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99. Essentially, the location’s 25 employees would cast ballots to indicate whether they still wanted a union. Before that vote took place, the union’s 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 “fairly low participation,” Ridge said. “Only a handful of people came out and voted for it.” Despite finally reaching a contract after a four-year fight, Curaleaf dispen- sary workers voted 14-1 to decertify the union just 10 days later. That nullified the contract, which Ridge called “an unfortu- nate loss for workers.” An objection to the vote was filed on May 8 with the NLRB, which has not yet ruled. “This is part of the reason why compa- nies drag their feet in negotiations: to draw the process out, so that workers get frustrated and then decide to decertify,” he added. “This is really an unfortunate example of that in a situation where workers were so close.” In an emailed statement, Curaleaf spokesperson Jordon Rahmil wrote that “we respect the voices of our team members and will always negotiate with duly authorized union leaders in good faith,” adding that Curaleaf is “committed to a collaborative culture that allows our team to feel heard, supported and respected.” Union-busting org involved Mooney’s petition was backed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represented her. The Foundation’s mission is to “eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic liti- gation, public information, and education programs,” according to its website. Put more simply: It wants to bust unions. In a press release from the foundation, Mooney thanked it for assisting her and said, “My colleagues and I didn’t appre- ciate how UFCW officials ignored our interests and tried to force a contract that we didn’t like.” 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’t involved in the initial authorization vote in 2022, wasn’t on the bargaining committee and didn’t vote in the election to ratify the contract. In an emailed statement to New Times, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation president Patrick Semmens said it was the organization’s under- standing that the decision to remove the union was “motivated by the employees’ general frustration with the union’s poor communication regarding the process of bargaining.” He added that the proposed contract “obviously didn’t meet the needs of workers who rejected it,” calling the contract vote a “rushed attempt to block the decertification campaign.” However, the company made it diffi- cult 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 “the impression among its employees that their union and protected rights are under surveillance,” threatened to tres- pass and call the police on its employee and union representative and made “unilateral changes without bargaining with the union.” Additionally, the union requested access to the store several times to speak with employees but was told by Curaleaf’s labor relations staffers that they weren’t allowed inside the store, specifically the break room. The NLRB has yet to rule on those complaints. These actions by Curaleaf are a “really typical union-busting tactic” that “made it really difficult to access employees and talk to them,” Ridge said. He also said that the location saw significant turnover — the company hired a bunch of new employees in the few weeks leading up to the two elections, which Ridge said “happens often and can result in a poor outcome.” “Workers are coming in; they’re being told about union dues and that there’s going to be an election and we don’t have enough time to explain the four years of progress leading up to it,” Ridge said. “When you have the biggest union- busting firm in the world involved in liti- gating a case like this, it’s hard to get workers the right information to fully understand their rights.” Curaleaf budtenders could rejoin the union, but they’d have to start the process all over again. “It is absolutely their right to do that,” Ridge said. “The union is always here to support them.” Curaleaf’s location on Camelback Road. (Curaleaf) Cannabis workers had pushed for a union contract for four years before the vote to dissolve the union. (Drake Ridge/UFCW 99) | CANNABIS |
