Missouri Cannabis Workers Win Union as Labor Board Rejects Farm Claim

Workers at a St. Louis cannabis processing facility voted 11-3 to unionize, closing out more than two years of legal dispute over a single question: are post-harvest cannabis workers farm employees — and therefore ineligible to organize under federal labor law?

The National Labor Relations Board answered that question on April 23, 2026, ruling that the workers are not agricultural laborers and carry full organizing rights under the federal law protecting most private-sector employees. On May 17, 2026, their sealed ballots were finally opened, confirming a final tally of 11-3 in favor of joining United Food & Commercial Workers Local 655.

The decision extends well beyond one facility in South St. Louis. By rejecting the agricultural worker argument at the national level, the board has foreclosed one of the clearest legal strategies cannabis employers had for blocking union organizing in processing and manufacturing operations.

How the Dispute Unfolded

The workers voted on February 6, 2024, at Sinse, a cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility operated by BeLeaf Medical at its south St. Louis location. Of 16 eligible voters, 15 ballots were cast. BeLeaf immediately challenged 11 of them — the post-harvest workers — arguing those employees were agricultural laborers exempt from the federal law that gives most private-sector workers the right to form a union and bargain collectively.

Federal labor law has long excluded agricultural workers from those protections. BeLeaf’s position was that employees who processed dried cannabis — making pre-rolls, handling order fulfillment, entering data on computers — were engaged in agricultural work because cannabis is a plant-based crop. The company argued the industry’s novelty meant prior precedent didn’t apply cleanly.

Andrea Wilkes, the NLRB’s regional director overseeing labor matters across a six-state Midwestern area, rejected that argument twice in 2024 and ordered the votes counted. BeLeaf escalated to the national board, asking it to establish a controlling standard on whether cannabis processors could be classified as farm workers.

What the Board Found

The board’s April 23, 2026, decision drew on established precedent from tobacco processing. Courts have long found that workers who stem, bulk, or otherwise process dried tobacco leaves are not agricultural laborers — even though tobacco is an agricultural crop. The board found that the parallel applies directly to cannabis post-harvest workers.

The specific tasks employees performed were central to the analysis. Sinse workers were making pre-rolls, processing dried plant material into finished products, and performing data entry and order fulfillment, the board characterized this work as manufacturing rather than farming.

“We agree with the regional director, for the reasons provided in her decision, that none of the workers employed in the classifications at issue here are agricultural laborers under the secondary definition of agriculture,” the board wrote.

BeLeaf acknowledged the outcome. HR director Douglas Purvis said in a statement that the company respects its employees’ decision and is committed to bargaining in good faith, according to reporting by the Missouri Independent.

What Cannabis Operators Should Watch

The ruling’s reach extends well past Sinse. The agricultural worker exclusion under federal labor law covers primary farming — planting, cultivating, and harvesting. It does not, after this decision, extend to what happens after the plant is dried and enters a facility for processing, manufacturing, or fulfillment.

That distinction matters for Missouri and for every state with commercial cannabis operations. Post-harvest processing is typically the largest employment segment in a vertically integrated cannabis company. Extraction, infusion, packaging, pre-roll manufacturing, quality control, and order fulfillment workers now have unambiguous organizing rights regardless of how their employer characterizes the work.

UFCW Local 655, which has organized at multiple Missouri cannabis facilities over the past several years, is moving directly to contract negotiations with BeLeaf. Lead organizer Sean Shannon indicated the union planned to begin scheduling bargaining dates the week following the vote count.

The Sinse case had been watched closely by cannabis labor attorneys and operators, partly because BeLeaf positioned it as a vehicle for national precedent, arguing the cannabis industry was too novel to fall under existing labor law. It did produce national precedent, but not the kind BeLeaf had sought. Any employer now attempting to revive the agricultural-worker argument in a cannabis processing context would face this ruling as the controlling authority and would need to take the issue into federal court to challenge it further.