Some So Cal UFCW History

Well as you may recall--Mr. Armas actually was allowed to run and what blew the establishment away was that he won--he actually beat the UFCW endorsed candidate.

Well this happened in July of 1986. By January of 1987 local 899 had merged with local 137(bakersfield) to form a new local 1036.

Marvin Armas never took office--because--there was no local 899. They merged the Local union and actually took the local away from him. Imagine that!

Well it is twenty years later---history does repeat itself--but now they merge before the election can take place--it's refered to as the Armas rules.
Not only was Mr. Marvin Armas denied the presidency to a fairly won election, the person who orchestrated the coup was the "current" Local 1036 president. Back in 1986 he called the UFCW International union and begged them to come in and merge local 899 and 137 so he and the rest of the staff of local 899 could keep their union staff jobs.

My oh my what a mess!

Meanwhile the rank and file membership has been getting the living shit kicked out of them.

Another bit of Southern California History
with a UFCW Local 588 connection--

Back in 1980 a man by the name of Joe Sunderman
(a rank and file member) was elected President of the old Local 899 now local 1036.

Well- this strong pro-worker advocate was making big waves with the UFCW establishment of the time.

In no time at all a young Mr. "Jack Loveall" was sent down to talk to Mr. Sunderman.

--Loveall met Joe in a hotel Room where he gave him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Yes within one hour and while a gun was pointed to his head poor Mr. Sunderman signed a letter of resignation.

Sunderman later filed a law suit in Federal Court and secured a settlement some 6-years later.

The current prsident of Local 1036 would be able to give you the full story since he was the one that asked his good buddy Jack Loveall to come down and take Sunderman out. Hard to believe, but true.

Meanwhile it is 2006 and nearly 50% of the current UFCW dues paying members in Southern California are working without any medical insurance.

UFCW-- "Southern California" History lesson # 3

In 1986 a young married UFCW Rank and File Latino women raising two young children decided to leave her job at Lucky's super market and run for office of the old local 899 (now local 1036). This young women's name was Henrietta Macias. This young women wanted to make a difference by fighting for the "Little Guy."

Well to the UFCW's establishment's absolute surprise this women won a position of "Secretary Treasurer" the number 2 position second only to that of the office of President.

Unlike, Mr. Marvin Armas, Ms. Macias was allowed to keep her fairly won position until the current UFCW Local 1036 president orchestrated an internal coup in 1992 which led to her being forcefully removed from office.

Throughout her years in office she was constantly ridiculed and verbally abused by the current president of UFCW Local 1036.

Ms. Macias spent the next 5 years 1992-1997, in a bitter litigation battle with this current president of UFCW Local 1036.

This long legal battle cost her the loss of her marriage, the loss of her home and nearly cost her her life.

This bit of UFCW "Southern California" history is especially important because it is one of those rare situations where the UFCW International union supported Henrietta Macias's "Rank and File" victory but it was the Local union's "Good old Boys" club that wanted her out.


The "Retail Food" contract is set to expire in March of 2007. There are also two UFCW Southern California "officer elections" pending in 2007. I would look for merger talks to begin very soon.

The "rank and file" "political storm" needs to errupt now in Southern California. The Southern California UFCW "local" union history is so corrupt and has been this way for decades.

The last true honest and dedicated UFCW Southern california UFCW union leaders were Joe DeSilva, Harry Warren, Gerald McTeague,J.J. Rodriguez, Ken Edwards, Max Osslo and Vince Salazar(UFCW International Union). These UFCW Southern California Icons are the folks that negotiated for us the once great pension, great medical insurance. These were the true believers of a dream--a dream to make the "Rank and File" members proud of their union by giving them dignity and fairness in the workplace. By making people proud to work in the Food Industry

The more "history" is made public the more the current corrupt UFCW Local union leaders will become concerned.

As we speak, nearly half of the current UFCW dues paying union members in Southern California are not receiving any medical insurance. The other half that do get it have found out that many medical procedures are no longer covered for them or their loved ones.

This UFCW SoCal disaster is beyond words.

The blame falls squarely on peolpe like Rod Diamond, Jan Dresner and John Grant--these three individuals are all current Local 770 executives better know as the "Diamond Mafia." Their corrupt leadership dating back to the 1970's has greatly contributed to the destruction of the Southern California UFCW.


UFCW Southern California History Lesson # 4

In the early 1990's, a "Rank and File" member by the name of Dan Jones challenged Rick Icaza the long time corrupt president of Local 770.

Naturally, Rick Icaza won.

There is a catch--Rick Icaza had gone suspended for failing to pay his union dues before the election making him ineligible to run for office--oh my God!

So Icaza has been an illegal President for nearly 15 years.

Never fear--Rod Diamond, Jan Dresner and John Grant knew about this and cleverly covered it up--the price to Icaza was that Rod Diamond would get to run things and get paid big $$$ and Icaza would remain president in name only but.

Now there are two other former Local 770 executives who know about this that are still alive.

If these two people could find the courage to go to the Department of Justice--there is a very good chance that the Justice Department would seek a grand jury indictment against Rick Icaza, Rod Diamond, Jan Dresner and last but not least John Grant.

More to come soon!

All info here was taken from different post from: http://forums.uncharted.ca/viewtopic.php?t=208&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Also Visit: http://groceryworkers.org/some-so-cal-ufcw-history