missouri cannabis workers are winning collective bargaining gains and organizers say the momentum is spreading statewide. In Columbia, employees at High Profile Cannabis unanimously ratified a contract last week that, according to United Food and Commercial Workers International Local 655, is the state’s first collective bargaining agreement for cannabis workers. The deal guarantees higher pay and paid vacation time for those employees.
The High Profile ratification is one of three recent organizing developments in Missouri. In St. Louis, post-harvest workers at Proper Brands voted 25-21 on July 1 to form a union. Workers at Vibe Cannabis, who handle trimming and other post-harvest tasks, have a union election scheduled for late July. UFCW Local 655’s organizing director, Sean Shannon, told the Missouri Independent that production and dispensary staff across the state are contacting the union to learn how to organize their workplaces.
A key legal shift in May has accelerated these campaigns. The National Labor Relations Board rejected a St. Louis employer’s claim that post-harvest workers fall under an agricultural exemption. That decision means many post-harvest employees in cannabis operations remain covered by the National Labor Relations Act, which protects most private-sector workers’ right to form unions and bargain collectively. Organizers say that removes a common legal barrier employers used to challenge union drives.
Missouri legalized recreational marijuana in 2023. The law spawned rapid market growth and a surge in jobs in cultivation, processing and retail. Organizers and workers say those new jobs exposed pay and scheduling practices that motivated shop-floor organizing. Several groups of workers endured multi-year legal fights and company resistance before securing recent victories.
The High Profile contract includes explicit wage increases and paid vacation provisions, though neither the union nor the company released exact dollar amounts publicly. Union leaders framed the agreement as a baseline for future contracts in the state’s expanding cannabis sector. Proper Brands’ narrow 25-21 vote shows organizing can succeed in smaller voter margins; that tally represents a 54.3% majority in favor.
Sierra Lutz, who helped gather signatures for the High Profile petition in 2023 and now works as a trimming technician at Vibe, is leading that campaign. She told the Missouri Independent that the earlier effort taught practical lessons about timing and messaging. “The workplace won’t change overnight, but change will come,” Lutz said, noting that training co-workers and documenting workplace issues helped build support.
Company responses have varied. Some employers have voluntarily negotiated with workers or recognized unions after petitions; others have contested elections and filed legal challenges. The NLRB decision in May narrowed one avenue of employer resistance by clarifying that post-harvest production roles are not automatically agricultural employees excluded from NLRA protections.
Organizers are targeting both production and retail roles. UFCW Local 655 reported inquiries from workers at dispensaries and processing facilities across the state. Those contacts often focus on staffing levels, overtime pay, schedule predictability and access to benefits—specific, measurable concerns workers expect a contract to address.
What happens next: several union elections and bargaining starts are scheduled across Missouri in the coming weeks. If High Profile’s contract holds and more votes follow, unionized shops could set pay and leave standards that regional employers will need to match to remain competitive for staff. That could affect labor costs for operators and influence recruitment and retention in a tight labor market.
For workers, the immediate effects are concrete: a negotiated pay increase and paid vacation for High Profile staff, and union representation at Proper Brands and potentially Vibe. For employers and investors, the developments introduce negotiable labor costs and potential changes in operating budgets where unionized shops set new benchmarks.
Organizers emphasize that the recent wins build on legal clarity and sustained worker outreach. UFCW Local 655 and local organizers expect additional petitions and elections this year. Whether those efforts produce more ratified contracts will depend on vote margins, company responses and the pace at which bargaining produces enforceable contract terms.
Missouri’s cannabis workforce now has examples of both narrow and unanimous votes that resulted in union recognition or contracts. Those outcomes give organizers concrete case studies—vote counts, contract terms, and timelines—that other workers can use when deciding whether to organize.
The next month of elections and bargaining sessions will show whether these early wins translate into broader, durable union representation across the state’s cannabis industry.
