Violence,Harassment,Firings Democracy For Local 588?

In June of 1997, Jack Nordby received his UFCW 588 voice newsletter in the mail. Inside the first page Jack saw a notice indicating that the UFCW 588 election of officers was being held. This notice is a requirement for all unions to send out to their members. The notice also indicates what is required for this election.

Jack Nordby contacted UFCW 588 to inquire more about the nomination process and what forms were needed in order for him to start obtaining signatures to have his name place on the election ballot.

UFCW 588 sent Jack Nordby the signature forms he would need signed by active members of the union in order for him to be nominated and have his name placed on the ballot. At the time, the UFCW 588 bylaws required all candidates to have signatures of 1% of the total number of active members of UFCW 588, which came to 217 signatures.

Jack Nordby, on a Saturday, started going to some of the stores to get active members to sign his petition. On this day, while on the road driving, Jack Nordby noticed a truck following him from behind and then this truck started to chase Jack in his vehicle where ever he went. Jack, using his cell phone, called his brother Frank on the phone to indicate to him that he was being chased by somebody in a pickup truck and that he was going to meet Frank at Frank's apartment and asked Frank to call the police. Frank ran to the front of his apartment complex and noticed his brother Jack driving fast past his apartment with a pick up truck close behind him. Frank noticed a police car in the front and told the police officer that the pickup truck was following Jack. Frank screamed at the driver of the pick up truck and the pick truck came to a stop and the police officer went to investigate the driver of the truck. The police questioned the driver and checked out his drivers license. His last name was Molinaro and he was from New York. He told the police officer that he wasn't chasing anybody. The police had nothing to go on so he let Mr. Molinaro go. A short time later Mr. Molinaro was again seen following Jack Nordby in his vehicle. At one time Mr. Molinaro passed Jack's Shady Lane street off of the busy Watt Avenue, and backed up his truck while on the busy Watt Avenue to follow Jack down his street to his house.

Jack Nordby then tried to get signatures from members at a Lucky Store at Lomas Plaza off of Fair Oaks Blvd. While entering the store he was approached by two men who pushed Jack as he was about to enter. One of the men was John Heise and the other person was a union representative I believe by the name of Joe Ciotti . They asked Jack what he was doing and he told them he was there to get signatures from members for the upcoming election. They followed him where ever he went inside the store to intimidate him. The union store shop steward at this Lucky store tried to accuse Jack of stealing while Jack was there getting signatures. Jack left after he realized what was going on at this store. John Biggs, the Lucky Store manager at the time condoned this abusinve behavior going on at the store by the shop steward and union representatives. From that Lucky store Jack was once again being followed by a number of different vehicles. Jack's brother Frank was also going around to the stores and getting members to sign Jack's petition. Frank went to the Pak N Save on Arden Way and had nearly every union member there sign Jack's petition. Members everywhere were indicating that they wanted a chance to vote for their leadership.

Jack and his brother Frank realized that they would have plenty of signatures needed in order for Jack to have his name placed on the ballot. Jack and his brother Frank were also distributing a flyer showing how much money the Union leadership at 588 were paying themselves. Members was irritated after becoming aware of the fact that these union representative were paying themselves huge salaries and receiving hefty raises during the years that members didn't receive any increases at all during the last couple of contracts. Even the contract in 1995, where UFCW 588 closed down the Lucky Stores during a strike, the members went without any increases in pay.

Jack was also receiving support from the Bay Area Locals in his effort to rid this Union of the Loveall's and the corruption. Jack Loveall and his family members devised a very demeaning method in which Adam Loveall and many Union paid representatives camped out at the stores where Jack Nordby was getting his signatures and pressured and intimidated many members to sign their petition to have their signatures removed from Jack's petition. They also went around to many stores in small groups and slandered Jack by telling members that Jack was a psycho, a lunatic, didn't have the qualifications, and it became sadly obvious how Jack Loveall and his cronies there at UFCW 588 interpreted the word "democracy." It also became obvious to the members that the leadership at UFCW 588 saw an election as a threat to their high paid positions.
It should also be noted that the chasing of Jack Nordby around on public streets inside their vehicles didn't stop. In fact, while Jack was driving his family (wife and two daughters) to Church on a Sunday morning, he was again being chased by union representatives which terrorized Jack's two young daughters. It was during this chase that Jack decided to file a police report because now his family was being targeted on a sunny Sunday morning while driving his family to Church. UFCW 588 took a simple election process and turned it into a terrorizing event for two small children. John Heise was involved in these particular road harassment tactics.

Jack did file a police report. It was just coincidental though that the police officer who arrived at Jack's residence to take the complaint was a former UFCW 588 member named Tyler Marsh. It is not important to try and read anything into this other than the fact that Jack would have not known that police officer was a former member of UFCW 588 had not his brother Frank been at Jack's house. Officer Marsh took the report and left. Jack continued to go out and get signatures and the leadership at UFCW 588 continued to harass Jack and at one time, had approximately five of their personal vehicles camping out in Jack's neighborhood. Union representative also followed his brother Frank to the American River where Frank runs on the bike trail.
Jack Nordby had well over the needed signatures to have his name placed on the ballot. The Union had over 150 signatures removed from Jack's nomination petitions. Everything after that point was a sham just like everything before. And this sham eventually involved government agencies including the U.S. Dept. of Labor. There was no election and Jack Nordby was eventually terminated from his job when UFCW 588 realized that Jack was continuing to campaign for the next election that was going to take place in 2000.

There is so much more that took place that hasn't been highlighted in the above account. But the most important understanding that members should have concerning all of this is that the current UFCW 588 leadership is not willing to have a democratic election to give their members a democratic voice and they will do anything and stop at nothing to prevent the members of having that privilege.

In fact, Jack Loveall and UFCW 588 decided that democracy at UFCW 588 was just too simple and so the next year they conveniently changed the bylaws to state that the signature requirement for a member to have their name placed on a ballot needed to be raised from 1% to 2%. Bylaws changed by individuals whom have never needed a single signature in over twenty years to be in their respective positions and to receive their outrageously high salaries that continue to go up annually like Jack Loveall's jet.

One additional note: Mr. Molinaro was listed above as the driver stopped by the police during the first road harassment of Jack Nordby. In 2004, the 588 LM-2 statement showed a William Molinaro being paid $94,242 as a business Representative. Is this the same Molinaro?
If you want additional details about this event feel free to contact me through email... franknordby [at] raleysexposed.com

http://groceryworkers.org/violence-harassment-terminations-democracy-for-local-588