ALBANY — Nearly 40 cannabis packaging and cultivation jobs in Warren County will be lost later this summer, according to the state Department of Labor.
Etain LLC, which operates a cannabis cultivation and packaging operation in Chestertown, in Warren County, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, known as a WARN, on May 5 with the Labor Department, indicating that all 37 workers at the facility will lose their jobs in August when the facility is permanently closed.
WARN filings are made ahead of so-called “mass” layoffs at larger-scale businesses to alert government agencies that worker assistance may be required.
Etain was started as a woman-owned business in 2015 by local owners from the Chestertown-based Pekham family and was later acquired by RIV Capital in a $247 million deal in 2022.
Don Lehman, Warren County’s director of public affairs, told the Times Union that the company had not reached out to the county, but a rapid response team from the Department of Labor had contacted the county’s Department of Workforce Development.
The county will work with the state to “provide assistance to any Etain employees who are laid off, with services that would include training, resume help, job search services and more,” Lehman said.