MECHANICSVILLE, Md. (June 9, 2025) – Today, United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 Union announced workers at Story cannabis dispensary in Mechanicsville, Md. have voted to ratify their first union contract.
The contract has several highlights, including:
- Guaranteed raises every year
- Guaranteed minimum hours per shift
- Seniority privileges
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Just cause protection from unfair discipline
“I’m just grateful to my coworkers for demonstrating our ability to stand together and determine what we want for our store,” said Dylan Zumwalt, who has worked at Story for six months. “I hope we continue to advocate for ourselves and each other.”
Ballots were cast on May 30 and workers voted 81% to approve the collective bargaining agreement. Today’s announcement comes shortly after workers voted to reject an effort to oust the union on Friday. The Mechanicsville workers unionized with UFCW Local 400 in October of 2023, and in December, staff at the company’s Hyattsville location unionized with UFCW Local 400 as well.
The Story workers are part of a growing wave of cannabis dispensaries in Maryland that have unionized, including: the Apothecarium locations in Burtonsville, Md. and Cumberland, Md.; Green Goods in Rockville, Md.; Potomac Holistics in Rockville, Md.; Sweetspot in Olney, Md.; Zen Leaf in Germantown, Md. and Zen Leaf in Towson, Md.; PharmaCann Verilife Dispensary in Westminster, Md.; and MaryMed, LLC in Hurlock, Md., among others.
For more information on UFCW’s work across the cannabis industry, visit ufcw.org/cannabis.
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United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 is led by President Mark Federici and represents 35,000 members working in the grocery, retail, health care, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. www.ufcw400.org