By Louis Freedberg. Ethnic Media Services.
Fred Ross Jr., one of the nation's leading organizers, worked to improve conditions for farm workers, attack the causes of migration from Central America, and speed the naturalization process.
Fred Ross Jr. always wanted to be known simply as an organizer.
He began his organizing work as a young man in the fields of California near Car Chez, and has inspired countless people to achieve social change for more than half a century in the workplace and in communities across the United States.
Ross died of cancer on November 20 at the age of 75.
Dolores Huerta, co-founder with Ch ez of the Uni de Campesinos, said two words describe Ross: humble and noble. "He was always so positive about everything," said Huerta, now 92. "We had a lot of turmoil in the farmworker movement, but Fred always managed to stay above it. He remained a statesman."
Arnulfo De La Cruz, executive vice president of SEIU Local 2015, recalled working with Ross two days ago. to unionize with ito to St. Joseph's Providence Hospital in Burbank, part of the third-largest nonprofit hospital chain in the West.
"I learned a lot from Fred, especially how important it is to involve the entire community in supporting these workers, the faith community, the labor community, the famous people," she said. "He was equally comfortable speaking in Spanish as in English and the workers took a great liking to him, especially when they understood his family's long legacy of fighting for workers."
Ross followed in the footsteps of his father, Fred Ross Sr., another legendary organizer who had a profound impact on Ch ez. “He discovered me, inspired me,” Ch ez said. About Ross Sr.., who hired and trained him as an organizer at age 25 in San Jose before founding the Uni de Campesinos with Huerta. “He thought I had what it took to be an organizer. He gave me a chance, and that led to a lot of things.”
Ross Jr.'s talent was taking what he learned from Chéz and his father, combining those lessons with on-the-ground campaigns with local volunteers, smart use of the media, and lobbying employers, state governments, and Congress on various social justice causes.
Ross began full-time organizing work at age 23 with farm workers during the massive lettuce strike in Salinas in 1970. One notable contribution was organizing a 110 mile march against Gallo wines, from San Francisco's Union Square to Gallo's headquarters, where at least 10,000 farmworkers and supporters filled the streets of Modesto.
One of the reasons for the march against Gallo was to pressure Governor Jerry Brown to sign the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, enacted in June 1975. It was the first law of its kind that established the right of agricultural workers to organize, vote in union elections and negotiate with their employers.
Ross relied on house meetings as a central tactic throughout his career. That was the hallmark of Ross' approach to organizing: he created individual relationships to, according to his own experience,