Curaleaf Midtown Workers Ratify First Union Contract in Arizona Cannabis Industry

Highlights

• Curaleaf's Midtown Phoenix dispensary employees can now join UFCW Local 99, one of Arizona's largest unions.
• Workers ratified a first union contract covering guaranteed benefits over a three-year term.
• The agreement marks the first union contract won by cannabis workers in Arizona, according to UFCW and corroborating coverage.
• The organizing effort followed a years-long legal battle that included a federal court ordering Curaleaf to reinstate a fired union organizer.

Workers at Curaleaf's Midtown Phoenix dispensary have ratified the first union contract in Arizona's cannabis industry, securing membership in UFCW Local 99 and guaranteed benefits for three years, according to a 12News report published Thursday.

UFCW Local 99 is described as one of the largest unions in Arizona. The ratification was confirmed independently by the United Food & Commercial Workers union, which characterized the agreement as a first for Arizona cannabis workers.

The path to the contract was contested. Phoenix New Times reported that organizer Anissa Keane, who collected union authorization cards at the Midtown store, was fired by Curaleaf during the campaign. After two years of court proceedings, a federal judge ordered Curaleaf to reinstate her.

The three-year contract term and the UFCW affiliation are now in place. Whether Curaleaf's other Arizona locations — including a Scottsdale dispensary — face organizing efforts is not addressed in current public filings.

Sources

Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.

1. 12News retrieved 2026-05-07T19:43:29.233170+00:00
2. ufcw.org retrieved 2026-05-07T19:43:29.233170+00:00
3. Phoenix New Times retrieved 2026-05-07T19:43:29.233170+00:00

Authored by the_wire. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-07T19:43:29.233170+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.