San Francisco, CA: Unite the Right Speaker John Ramondetta Quits Job Out of Fear of Coworkers

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Local neo-Nazi John Ramondetta has previously been profiled on It’s Going Down and has also been the subject of multiple doxxing and community outreach efforts locally. Though he attended Black Lives Matter protests in earnest as recently as 2014, he has since risen to prominence in the “alt-right” movement, taking on the alias “Johnny Monoxide” and appearing on numerous alt-right podcasts.

Ramondetta was scheduled to speak at the failed Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA on August 12th, and helped organize participation in Charlottesville by California members of Identity Europa and fellow radio personalities from The Right Stuff Radio. He appears in photographs and video from the event including the Vice documentary “Charlottesville: Race and Terror.” In it, Ramondetta can be seen walking alongside Azzmador, a contributor to The Daily Stormer and Chris Cantwell of Radical Agenda. He is pictured later in the day standing next to Mike Enoch of The Right Stuff Radio, peering over the shoulder of former KKK leader David Duke, both of whom he joined in a carpool van to flee the scene, pointing to Ramondetta having become deeply entrenched in White Nationalist organizing and outreach.

The horrors that unfolded in Charlottesville have pushed more people to combat white supremacists. As has been widely reported, attendees and organizers are facing harsh consequences, both personally and professionally, due to some of these efforts. John Ramondetta, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) who was working as an Inside Wireman and earning at least $66 an hour, is the second person reported to have lost their job in the Bay Area in connection with the violent weekend in Charlottesville. The first was former Top Dog employee Cole White, alias Based Rick Flair. Rosendin Electric spokesperson, Salina Brown, said of Ramondetta, “His actions did not match our policies so at this point he’s no longer employed with us.”

Words of praise over this decision immediately began to go out over social media. However, it turns out that the company was already aware of Ramondetta’s activities and even offered to find a way to keep him employed by sending him to a different job site. At that point, John Ramondetta asked them to lay him off, effectively quitting.

On Wednesday, Aug 16th, Ramondetta’s employment with Rosendin Electric was in fact terminated, but what was unclear until now was exactly what led to that termination. On a podcast released on Thursday, August 17th on The Right Stuff Radio, Mike “Enoch” Peinovich and John Ramondetta vented their frustrations over the hardships they have had since Unite the Right.

Ramondetta remarked that he was very upset as he told the story of his termination. He reported that when he entered the job he was immediately confronted by a Black laborer holding a flier that John said was intended to “name and shame.” At this point, he noticed the fliers were posted all over the entrance to his job. The fliers have a picture of Ramondetta with his name and alias, several quotes from his podcasts (many of them about people of color and women on the job) , and a brief summary under the declaration, “No Brother of Ours!”

After this, he says was confronted by several more Laborers. He went to the company office across the street where he told them that he didn’t feel safe and asked to be laid off. Sources on the job say that Ramondetta’s version of how he ended up in the Rosendin office is close to the truth. Workers who were on-site that morning report that there were many workers from various trades looking for Ramondetta, and they were much more aggressive than he reports in his retelling. They also say that when he went across the street, he was running from them, rather than walking off the job in a huff.

In the Rosendin Electric office, Ramondetta reported that he was treated very well by job site management, given coffee and snacks, and that there was one supervisor who told him that he agreed with his views. During the 4 or so hours he was conferring with supervisors in the office, Rosendin higher ups offered to transfer him to another job or terminate his employment so he could avoid confrontation at his current job site. Ramondetta expressed that Rosendin let him know that they had been aware his activities for weeks and were waiting for it to “blow up.”

At this point, he opted for termination, possibly fearing that the workers at any job he transferred to would also know who he was. Rosendin management asked him to sign a slip acknowledging that he was requesting to be severed from the company. Ramondetta did not realize that in doing so, the company would rightfully record his termination as a job quit, as opposed to being laid off, thus preventing him from collecting unemployment insurance from the state. He was very upset about this, despite his consistent criticism of public benefits and those who collect them. According to his recent statements, Ramondetta has purchased or is in the process of purchasing land in Tennessee where he plans to reunite his family. He has also moved from the Berkeley address where his neighbors were recently made aware of his presence in their neighborhood. With these financial pressures this would seem an inopportune time for him to lose all income.

The flier found at the job site Wednesday began circulating in forums for union workers on social media the previous day. Since then, union members, including members of the IBEW, have vocally opposed the idea of John Ramondetta working around them. Many have called for his expulsion from the union, Jonathan “Ribeye” Reibli, retired member, wrote an open letter to John Doherty, Business Manager of IBEW Local 6 stating: “[Ramondetta] needs to be held accountable for his actions and his speech, whether that be expulsion or removal of his use of the hiring hall for a defined period.”

In a formal public statement, Doherty says, “IBEW Local Union No. 6 also condemns white nationalism and white supremacy, as they are in stark conflict with the express goals of our organization.” However, it goes on to say, “The authority of the IBEW Local 6 to discipline or otherwise hold Mr. Ramondetta accountable does not extend to the expression of his views and opinions as an individual outside of the workplace.” Apparently, that authority lies with the workers on the job wearing hard hats, packing tools and not afraid to stand up to a Nazi in their workplace. The statement from the union ends, “Any questions on the views and opinions of John Ramondetta should be directed to him personally.” From Ramondetta’s own account, that is essentially what happened.

Despite the press narrative and statements made by Rosendin implying he was fired, it appears that it was the “No Brother of Ours” fliers and the confrontation by his coworkers that led John Ramondetta to run to his bosses August 16th and request termination of employment. The company, Rosendin Electric, appears to have treated him quite well and offered him continued employment away from conflict. If accolades are to be given for the success of disrupting Ramondetta’s employment, they should go to the workers and not the company, as it was the actions of workers: union Laborers, Plumbers, Electricians, and more that lead to John Ramondetta’s current employment situation. Management at Rosendin Electric, knowing his expressed views and activities, kept him in a position overseeing other workers until they were forced to act.

What’s next for John Ramondetta? According to his podcast, he plans to take a few weeks off to let this all blow over, then return to the union hall to be dispatched to another job. He has signed the local union’s “out of work list” and will receive a number in line. Any day that jobs are available, he may then show up in person at the IBEW Local 6 Union Hall, 55 Fillmore Street, San Francisco at 7:45am. When they announce jobs for dispatch, if he is the next person on the list who is present, he may take the job. Construction is busy in San Francisco so it is possible that he could be sent to a new job any day but he has said he wants to let things blow over. What happens when he returns to work is anyone’s guess.