in our Spotlight on Business Report more and more workers in the Cannabis industry are unionizing and labor organizers are hoping to keep the trend going as the industry continues expanding in New Jersey but as Melissa Rose Cooper reports it's not always an easy Road pretty much we went from being kind of at the mercy and uh discretion of our employer to actually kind of taking uh the workplace in our own hands Good Feeling for Antonio Melinda smart who works as a bud tender for the botanist Melendez mod was instrumental in helping voice concerns of his fellow co-workers as part of the local union and in June members of United Food and commercials Union 152 negotiated a three-year agreement calling for increased pay and better health benefits for employees at the botanist locations in Egg Harbor and Atlantic City we are a unit of workers we do want you know we want certain rights we want certain wages and we want to be able to build upon that so that in 10 years you know people are looking back and you're saying you know we actually have a career out of this it's not just like a job that people come in and out of we actually have something where people can be 20 30 years down the line and happy and satisfied and can take care of a family this comes as more workers in the Cannabis industry push to be unionized an initiative that's crucial according to the past president of the New Jersey Canada Business Association Edmund Devoe there's always a concern that when you organize labor when you have unions in in the workplace that the cost of doing business has actually increased that has always been a concern of of businesses uh not just in New Jersey but but across the country and so when you look at that and you look at these new businesses I don't really think that there's a better way of making sure that you create standards by which employees should be treated cure relief the state's largest cannabis supplier now has unions present at all of its stores members at its location in Bordentown just recently voted for unionization more than two months after the Cannabis Regulatory Commission reject the Q release request to renew its recreational marijuana license the CRC cited a number of concerns including an apparent layoff announcement that was made before the information was provided to the commission but just days later the CRC reversed the decision um so now all three cure relief retail facilities are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union the UFCW um and you know look it's it's a long path you know at the end of the day the workers have to want it um and at the end of the day the workers have to look at themselves and say hey I'm worth a good wage hey I'm worth good benefits um and we're just here helping them get to that end goal Akira Lee spokesperson confirming the company respects the rights of workers choosing to be in a union saying in a statement the company pursues an honest business-like approach and working with those Representatives cure relief is currently engaged in good faith bargaining with the UFCW for collective bargaining agreement to represent the team members at those three dispensary locations it's really hard to say that you can commit to a 30-year mortgage per se because if you have if you work in a right to work date although it sounds appealing it is not it basically means that you know under any circumstance at any time you could be let go so to make a financial commitment whether any kind of financial equipment really you can't really rely um a stability um that the job will always be present and unionization does it actually provides that comfort and access that will allow you to make this decision feel comfortable relieve some of that stress that you may not you know you're not sure of your job or your position another step to ensuring continuous stability as the Cannabis industry grows for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]