MEDICAL-MARIJUANA WORKERS UNIONIZING

The state's largest labor union today announced that it has hundreds
of new members from the medical-marijuana industry.

Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said in a
statement that the new members come from a "comprehensive cross
section" of the industry. The union, which has 25,000 members
statewide, said it would announce more details at a news conference
Monday. The union put the total number of jobs in the
medical-marijuana industry in Colorado at 8,000, though it is unclear
how it came to that number.

In the union's announcement, Steve Ackerman of the Organic
Alternatives dispensary in Fort Collins said the pairing of the UFCW
and the medical-marijuana industry are a natural fit. Kim Cordova, the
union's president, echoed that.

"We are the retail food, pharmacy, agriculture, food processing, and
healthcare Union in Colorado and around the nation," Cordova said in
the announcement.

The move solidifies a surprising allegiance that has developed between
marijuana advocates and the UFCW in recent years.

Last year, hundreds of California medical-marijuana industry workers
joined the UFCW. That included dozens at businesses run by an Oakland
cannabis entrepreneur who was the main backer of an initiative to
legalize marijuana in that state. The UFCW endorsed the initiative and
took an active role in the campaign, which was ultimately
unsuccessful.

The medical-marijuana unionization in Colorado comes as cannabis
activists here are working to put a marijuana-legalization measure on
the 2012 statewide ballot. Today's announcement from Local 7, though,
made no mention of the Colorado legalization campaign.