Employees at Hamilton’s Tokyo Smoke agree to unionize

Staff at Stoney Creek cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke Rymal voted last Friday in favour of unionizing and became the second group of pot shop employees to start a union.

They decided to unionize with UFCW Local 1006A with the key issues for the 11 workers being health and safety, staffing, benefits, and having a voice and representation at work.

Congratulations to the budtenders at Tokyo Smoke in Ontario on winning your union! 🎉 These 11 workers sought improvements to their benefits and more respect at work and they took a huge step forward by joining UFCW 1006A. Welcome to the union family! https://t.co/8ZxapaIR0n

— UFCW 1518 (@UFCW_1518) March 16, 2021

Although the vote still needs to be ratified, support for joining the Local 1006A was overwhelming.

Tokyo Smoke Rymal is the second cannabis store to have staff unionize in Hamilton. Employees at Canna Cabana unionized with UFCW175 last year.

The efforts to unionize are an attempt to ensure that sections of the cannabis industry don’t fall into low wages and other things you see in other retail spaces, said a Tokyo Smoke employee in an article filed by the CBC.

The employee also cited that employees in cannabis retail require a breadth of specialized knowledge in order to offer stellar customer service to people of all levels of cannabis experience. 

Employees at Canna Cabana ratified their first agreement as members last December, which included an increase to hourly pay, signing bonuses, more paid sick days, and changes to overtime pay and scheduling. 

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• Cannabis
• Hamilton
• HamOnt
• jobs
• pot
• retail
• Stoney Creek
• Tokyo Smoke
• union