NETA fires workers to slow down union

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

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By Mike Crawford

Jonathan  “Bambino” Martins didn’t expect to get fired from his job in the kitchen at the Franklin location for NETA, New England Treatment Access, a registered legal and medical dispensary chain owned by multi-state operator, Parallel. Martins was fired, days after appearing on our “The Young Jurks” live show and podcast to discuss a UFCW union campaign. Returning again to the show a few days after being let go, Martins recalled, “I figured they’ld be kind of upset but not that upset.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers[1] in the United States and Canada. 

Just a few weeks before on July 1st, Boston Business Journal reported “that 60 workers at NETA’s cultivation facility in Franklin cast votes to unionize.”

Martins said he would do it all again because, “There are people there (at NETA Franklin) that signed the (union) card that day after I got fired.”

Two employees at NETA in Franklin emailed about the firing of Martins, we are withholding their names to protect their jobs.  

The first wrote:

“I'm disappointed and infuriated by what they did to him. All he wanted to do was make NETA a better place for everyone to work and they chose to make a martyr out of him. It is exactly how you described it in your follow up podcast with Bam, they wanted to make an example out of him because they are desperate and they know they are losing. They spread misinformation about the ongoing struggle of other union 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.

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.” 

He calls it “corporate greed” and states UFCW “will continue to expose anti-worker activities”

DaSilva promised, “This is far from over, Local 1445 is committed to cannabis workers across Massachusetts.” 

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UFCW 1445 is a sponsor of The Young Jurks show and podcast.