Workers at the Eugene sci-fi themed cannabis dispensary SpaceBuds have a goal: to boldly go where few dispensaries have gone before — by forming a union.
After voting 5-4 on April 4 to join the established United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 union, workers at SpaceBuds: The Dispensary now await the bargaining process with owners. A worker who’s a part of the unionizing efforts, Dakota Licea, says employees want to secure a living wage, a set schedule and other benefits he says the workplace is lacking — and to set an example for other dispensaries in town.
SpaceBuds is locally owned by Brian Albert and Michael Antonucci. Eugene Weekly reached out for comment, but did not receive a response.
Budtenders throughout the cannabis industry, Licea says, are treated as retail workers, but there’s a lot of skill that is involved when selling weed and hemp products. It’s a job that often requires enough knowledge of various types of cannabis to provide accurate information for customers, whether they need the product for medical or recreational use. And most dispensaries require two to three years of cannabis industry work experience, specifically in budtending.
“I do actual clinical research for cannabis and find neurochemical peer-reviewed studies,” Licea says. “SpaceBuds prides itself in having educated budtenders, but we aren’t treated well. But that’s another thing that’s rife in the industry.”
Licea says at his first job budtending years ago he started at about $12...
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