The Cannabis Place 420 Corp. (TCP) dispensary announced that a judge is allowing it to stay open in Jersey City for now despite labor union complications.
The Jersey City Council held back from reapproving it when the UFCW Local 360 labor union Organizing Director Hugh Giordano denounced them and their anti-labor union tactics at a recent meeting.
“He used the labor movement to get his licensing,” Giordano declared at the meeting last week. “…He used the labor movement for folks like me to come to the Jersey City Council meeting.”
“He’s supposed to bargain in good faith,” he noted. “…When we had bargaining sessions, he proposed nothing back.”
“I appreciate the fact that he served our country. But you can’t hide behind equity status…,” Giordano declared.
Jersey City Cannabis Place Dispensary Labor Problems
The City Council was told by the Business Administrator Ruby Choi that delaying their re-approval would not harm their license.
New Jersey’s cannabis law mandates that cannabis companies sign a Labor Peace Agreement (LPA).
So now TCP is suing the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC), the UFCW, and Jersey City for forcing them to have an LPA.
TCP went from seeking the union’s help to open in 2023 to denouncing them by 2026.
“The federal court’s intervention today saved the livelihoods of twenty dedicated local employees,” said Osbert Orduna, CEO of TCP.
Twenty people can be costly to pay amidst federal marijuana prohibition and competition from underground legacy operators and smoke shops. Especially since they are not in one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods.
While Giordano opposed them at the Council meeting in October, he was not present at the August 2026 Jersey City Cannabis Control Board (CCB) meeting. At that meeting, Orduna criticized the city for not shutting down more smoke shops before a sympathetic board approved their annual renewal.
Orduna has taken a similar anti-labor union stance in New York, where his dispensary chain is based.
He often mentions he is a severely disabled veteran with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) while able-bodied.
Heady NJ has heard from a source that Orduna fired a worker for a raise. He called that “100 percent false.”
