“If you can’t run a business without intimidating your own staff, then maybe you shouldn’t be running one at all.”
On Tuesday, members of the Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy heard testimony on a range of bills. In addition to our regular coverage of hearing, we are publishing some individual testimonies. The following comes from Steff Coronella, the business agent with UFCW Local 1445, who testified in support of An Act to facilitate labor peace among the cannabis workforce. -TJM Editors
I’m here to speak about Labor Peace in Cannabis. I burned out in tech in 2019, so I ran away and joined the Cannabis Industry. Over the next 5 years, I worked nearly every job in cannabis, retail, cultivation, production, and security. Then the pandemic hit, and the curtain was pulled back on the industry for me. I saw how the sausage was made and realized that we, the workers, were the sausage.
Back in 2021, I organized the grow I worked at. When that facility closed a year later, I moved to Ayr Wellness, where I was a cultivator and union member. From there, I joined the local staff as an organizer, where I helped workers at Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, and Ethos Cannabis organize and win their union elections.
I know how hard it is to organize when you’re being watched, written up, or quietly pushed out. I’ve seen companies panic when an organizing drive is discovered. They cut hours. They isolate leaders. They pile on discipline. Or they will simply fire you. No reason. Just a slip that says “at will.”
The second someone says the word “union,” the company declares war, and Organizing is a fight for a company’s soul. Workers come together to be heard, and management will hire a union-busting lawyer instead of listening. The company would rather pay that lawyer $600 an hour to tell workers they don’t deserve $20 an hour, safety, and dignity on the job.
Meanwhile, those same companies duct-tape CO2 alarms. They block exit signs. They let mold grow in the HVAC system. They commit wage theft. And when we speak up? They say, “We’re just following orders.” Or “If you don’t like it, find another job.”
Let’s not forget Lorna McMurrey, who died working in a Trulieve facility in Holyoke. She was 27 years old. She couldn’t breathe. She asked for help. No one listened. And then the company negotiated OSHA’s fine down to fifteen thousand dollars and left the state, citing lack of profit. That should never happen. Not here in Massachusetts. Not anywhere in the United States. This industry has to choose: people, or profits.
Now, as a Business Agent, I’m fighting back. Yesterday I won five thousand dollars in back pay and triple damages for wage theft. I’ve helped members navigate workers’ comp and doctors’ appointments after being exposed to harsh chemicals. I routinely overturn bogus write-ups, call out unsafe conditions, and hold the company accountable to fix them. But those wins only happen when workers have protection. No union. No defense. No chance.
S.77 H.161 doesn’t force anyone to unionize. It doesn’t require recognition, all it says: Stay out of the way, boss, and let your workers choose. And if you can’t run a business without intimidating your own staff, then maybe you shouldn’t be running one at all.
Yes, the CCC recently pulled a lab’s license for fraud. Good. But where was the product recall? That speaks volumes. The state can’t do it all. Workers have to look out for each other. And that’s what unions do.
This industry was built on the backs of workers. And now they want to replace us with kiosks and automation. They want our labor, but not our voice.
We’re not disposable. We’re not replaceable. We’re stronger together. Pass S.77 / H.161.
