Holistic Industries Cannabis Packing, Delivery Workers Request Vote to Remove UFCW Union

*SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –* A majority of production employees at cannabis
company Holistic Industries’ Monson facility have requested a vote to
remove United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1459 union officials
from their workplace. Packaging associate Scott Browne submitted the union
decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on
behalf of his colleagues with free legal aid from National Right to Work
Foundation staff attorneys.

The NLRB is the agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task
that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) or remove (or
“decertify”) unions. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) stipulates
that a decertification petition must contain signatures from at least 30%
of employees in a work unit to prompt a decertification election. Browne
far exceeded this threshold, submitting a showing of interest that
contained signatures from over 70% of his work unit.

Because Massachusetts lacks Right to Work protections for its private
sector workers, union officials can enforce contracts that require
employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a
job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union
financial support are strictly voluntary and the choice of each individual
worker. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union
monopoly bargaining contracts control the working conditions of all workers
in a unionized workplace, even those who voted against or otherwise oppose
the union.

“UFCW union officials are trying to strike a deal with our employer that
will require us to pay fees out of our wages just to stay employed here.
But with this petition, I and all of my coworkers have made our position
clear: We don’t want or need a union,” commented Browne. “UFCW bosses
haven’t convinced us that they’re going to deliver on the promises they
made when they first came to our workplace, and the prospect of being
forced to pay for that kind of ‘representation’ isn’t exactly appealing.”

UFCW Bosses Rush Contract Despite Worker Opposition UFCW Local 1459
recently called a vote on a contract drafted by union officials. Union
officials will often rush to finalize a contract in order to trigger the
“contract bar,” a non-statutory NLRB policy that bars workers from
requesting a union decertification vote while a union contract is active,
up to three years.

Because there is no legal requirement to abide by the results of a worker
contract vote, situations sometimes arise in which union officials ratify a
contract that workers rejected to keep them trapped in the union under the
NLRB’s non-statutory “contract bar” policy. However, because Browne
submitted his decertification petition before any contract ratification
occurred, Holistic Industries employees have likely avoided this situation.

Legislators Seek to Strip Cannabis Workers Nationwide of Freedom to Resist
Unionization Foundation staff attorneys recently assisted employees of
Green Thumb Industries – a New Jersey-based cannabis company – in filing a
petition to remove UFCW union officials from power at their facility.
Foundation attorneys have also opposed state legislative schemes that would
require cannabis companies to grant union bosses special access to their
workers just as a condition of operating. Such arrangements – misleadingly
called “labor peace agreements” – infringe workers’ right to freely decide
for or against union control, yet have become law in California, New York,
and other states. Massachusetts legislators filed a bill last legislative
session to establish such a framework.

“Holistic Industries workers have joined the groundswell of workers
nationwide who are exercising their right to declare independence from
union bosses who don’t represent their interests,” commented National Right
to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re confident that they
will succeed in their effort to oust UFCW officials, union-label
legislators are trying to stifle cannabis industry employees’ rights across
the country as a sop to their union boss political allies.

“State lawmakers have no shortage of factors to wrestle with when deciding
whether to greenlight the cannabis industry, but one thing should be
non-negotiable: Letting the industry take root shouldn’t mean that workers’
individual rights go up in smoke,” Mix added.
About National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit,
charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human
or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The
foundation assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per
year.