PHOENIX — April 20, or 4/20, is one of the biggest shopping days for marijuana nationwide.
While Valley dispensaries were packed Thursday morning, a group of cannabis workers gathered for a press conference to push for more benefits for the everyday cannabis worker.
"These types of workloads have doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size, but the wages, the benefits, and definitely the security did not match," said budtender Nick Fredrickson.
A budtender is essentially a bartender for weed. They provide recommendations and check folks out when it is time to pay.
Fredrickson said he usually sells about $5,000 worth of products a day.
"And it’s almost sickening to find out that I'm making 15 bucks an hour," Fredrickson said. "No commission, no real benefit program. It takes years to go full time."
Fredrickson is a part of the first group of workers to unionize at a dispensary. The union held a news conference Tuesday claiming that many workers make around minimum wage and often are only hired as part-time workers to allow the businesses to avoid paying medical benefits.
"Conditions are frankly abhorrent," Fredrickson said.
Experts in the industry say the wages are typical for the industry in Arizona.
“They see it’s an industry with tremendous growth and lots of money circulating. When they enter, they realize it’s home depot-like, ordinary wages,” said the head of the Arizona Marijuana Industry Trade Association, Demitri Downing.
Downing said a driver in the lower wages is because of supply and demand.
More people became interested in the growing profession, growing the potential pool of workers.
Combine that with the state's limit on the number of dispensaries through licenses, potentially limiting the number of positions.
“Businesses will always try to get the best deal. It’s just the nature of businesses," said Downing.
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