GreenLeaf Sep 2020

efforts at Brookline almost weekly and have since
told Leads in Franklin that speaking about the
union efforts in Franklin is a punishable offense.
We are being silenced from having any positive
outlook on union efforts while people in charge
can send out mass emails to every employee to
not only discourage unionizing but make it seem
like it is the more damaging of the two options.
While they hold group meetings in each room and
tell us what is appropriate to talk about and how
unions are bad.’
I wholeheartedly believe that what they did to
Bam has "rallied the troops" so to speak. As
much as I hate what they've done, they have shot
themselves in the foot doing it. People I never
thought would even consider unionizing before,
as I do my best to ask people about it and force
conversations on it despite what they try to do to
us for it (I refuse to be made silent in this), are
now more open to the idea than ever. Even people
who are actively against unions are furious
over what they did and know something needs
to change and that is at least a good start. I miss
Bam at work, but I know that he is still working for
the rest of us in this. I know that NETA is going
to regret what they did and that at least in some
ways, they already do. It’s up to the rest of us to
finish the job now.”
And the second employee noted the same exact
management behavior: “To quote an email from
a NETA manager, ‘If a union represents you, you
will, in essence, lose your individuality. You cede
the power to advocate for yourself. The union
will speak for you and make all decisions about
your working environment on your behalf. If a
union tells you things can only get better, they
aren’t telling the truth.’ If that doesn’t convince
you about NETAs integrity as a fair company I
don’t know what will. Jon was fired for speaking
on behalf of employees and the union yet senior
management can denounce the union as free as
they like.”
We’ve been covering mold, worker health and
safety issues at NETA for two plus years.
In January 2018, we reported NETA employees
who were speaking out on awful working conditions,
one of them filed an OSHA complaint,
“Mold was an issue at both [NETA’s] Franklin cultivation
center and the Northampton dispensary,”
Anne Hassel wrote in her complaint to OSHA.
In May of this year, we spoke to a new group of
employees about the same mold issues at NETA
Franklin and noted other worker safety issues.
One employee saw the near future, “There were
more fires when I worked there than fire drills
because we never had fire drills and we did have
a fire.” The employee predicted that there would
be more fires at the NETA Franklin location.
And sure enough, just a few weeks ago, NETA
had yet another fire at the Franklin location.
When employees successfully predict there will
be more fires on a very public podcast, and it
comes true in less than 60 days time, it’s definitely
a moment to do more than union bust. But
that’s exactly what NETA management has done.
In Brookline with a mail-in union election happening,
we’ve heard from many union supporting
employees that were laid off or furloughed under
the context of COVID-19.
UFCW organizers have indicated that as many
as 50 Brookline employees were initially let go to
stop the union from winning in Brookline as it has
in Franklin. It seems to have worked for now.
NETA President Amanda Roisatano emailed her
employees, “The Brookline team members voted
against UFCW representation by a vote of 30 to
9.”She noted that the union has 7 days to contest
the election. It seems that’s likely.
She noted that the union has 7 days to contest
the election. It seems that’s likely.
UFCW Local 1445 Secretary Fabricio DaSilva,
“The entire election has been tainted with Union
busting activities by NETA”, he also noted that
NETA “took advantage of people’s fears during
a pandemic, using it to drastically change the
composition of their workforce in order to win an
election”, which he labeled as “both deceptive
and disingenuous.”
J33