After waging a dramatic public awareness campaign, cannabis workers at New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Franklin, Mass., secured a strong contract this summer.
The UFCW Local 1445 members won across-the-board wage increases, a one-time $700 ratification bonus, better holiday and overtime pay, improved benefits, and successorship language in case of a sale. The contract also includes technology provisions to prevent employees from being negatively impacted by an automated or artificial intelligence system, and it requires the company to give the union advance notice of significant technology updates.
The one-year contract covers 18 workers at the facility, including cultivation, harvest, cure, and pest management staff.
Negotiations had stalled after 16 months, so to put pressure on the company, members wore union swag during their shifts and distributed handbills outside the facility during a powerful summer storm. The rain was so strong that police, concerned about the workers’ safety, asked them to seek shelter.
Those actions had an impact. Members felt strong support from customers who backed their calls for a fair deal, and they believe that support helped kick-start negotiations.
Despite the intense process, cultivator, shop steward, and bargaining committee member Jack Shanahan is looking forward to what’s ahead. “This fight is far from over, but we have gained tremendous ground for the next round of negotiations and shown our bosses that we will not stand for mistreatment.”
Andrew Mandeville, cultivator and bargaining committee member, was emboldened by the fight for a fair contract. “With the cannabis industry, it can sometimes feel like our work is truly up in the air, or at the mercy of people more powerful than us, but organizing with our UFCW local branch has helped us plant our feet on the ground and given some of that power back to the workers.”