HADLEY — Trader Joe’s illegally terminated a long-term employee and retaliated against workers at two unionized stores by providing them a less favorable retirement benefit than non-union stores, the National Labor Relations Board ruled this week.

In a statement, Trader Joe’s United said the board ruling “validates what we’ve known all along: that Trader Joe’s is willing to act unlawfully and violate our rights as workers — even firing us — in an attempt to discourage organizing and protect their bottom line.”

On June 8, Trader Joe’s fired Steve Andrade, a sign painter and vocal union supporter at the Hadley store, allegedly for failing to remove a small power tool from the store’s premises when asked to do so by management.

Workers at the Hadley store petitioned for his reinstatement and held a walkout at the store to protest what they termed a retaliatory firing. Employees also rallied outside Trader Joe’s corporate offices in Boston, where they presented executives with a petition signed by over 27,000 community supporters demanding Andrade’s reinstatement.

The NLRB decision calls on the company to make Andrade financially whole, to offer to reinstate him in Hadley and to write him a letter of apology, among other remedies.

“We’re really happy,” union representative Maeg Yosef said by phone Thursday. “We felt all along that Steve’s termination was retaliatory, and we’re happy the NLRB agreed.”

In a statement, Andrade said the ruling was a positive sign for all Trader Joe’s crew members, unionized or not.

Over the 18 years of his employment, he stated, he had believed Trader Joe’s would honor its pledge to always act with integrity. But the company’s actions in this case “made it crystal clear that Trader Joe’s does NOT act with integrity and will in fact use deception, lies and bullying tactics to achieve its goals,” Andrade stated.

“But with this decision, the NLRB has told Trader Joe’s that their workers deserve to be treated with the integrity that was promised.”

The labor board also found merit to the unfair labor practice charges filed by Trader Joe’s United related to the company’s most recent retirement contribution. The board has previously found merit in several other unfair labor practice charges filed by the union.

A message left for a company spokesperson in Boston was not returned Thursday.

Workers in Hadley and Minneapolis are represented by Trader Joe’s United, the independent union of Trader Joe’s workers. At the time the last retirement benefit was negotiated, Hadley and Minneapolis were the only unionized Trader Joe’s locations. Since then, two more stores have unionized, in Louisville, Ky., and Oakland, Calif.

Some crew members at the Hadley Trader Joe’s have launched a petition to decertify the union, accusing it of spreading misinformation and undermining morale.

Trader Joe’s is required to file an answer to the union’s charges by Jan. 3, the NLRB wrote. The case is set to proceed to a hearing beginning Jan. 16 in Hartford, Conn.

James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.