Fred Ross Jr., “humble and noble” activist

Fred Ross Jr. always wanted to be known as just an organizer.

As a young man, he began his organizing work in the fields of California with Cesar Chavez and for more than half a century inspired countless people to achieve social change in their workplaces and in their communities throughout the United States.

Ross died of cancer on November 20 at the age of 75.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder with Chavez of Unión de Campesinos, said there are two words that describe Ross: humble and noble.

“He was always so positive about everything,” said Huerta, now 92. “We had a lot of turmoil in the farm worker movement, but Fred always managed to stay on top. He remained a statesman.”

Arnulfo De La Cruz, EVP of SEIU Local 2015, recalled working with Ross two decades ago. successfully unionize to St. Joseph Providence Hospital in Burbank, one of the third largest non-profit hospital chains in the West.

“I learned a lot from Fred, especially how important it is to get the whole community to support these workers, the religious community, the trade union community, famous people,” he explained. “He spoke Spanish as comfortably as he did English, and the workers grew fond of him, especially as they realized his family’s long heritage in the fight for the workers.”

Ross followed in the footsteps of his father, Fred Ross Sr., another legendary organizer who had a profound influence on Chavez. “He discovered me, he inspired me,” Chavez said. About Ross senior.., who hired and trained him as an organizer at the age of 25 in San José before founding the Unión de Campesinos con Huerta.

“He thought I had what it takes to become an organizer. He gave me the opportunity and it led to many things,” Chavez once explained.

Ross Jr.’s talent was to learn what he learned from Chavez and his father, combining those lessons with campaigning on the ground with local volunteers, using the media wisely, and lobbying bosses, state governments, and Congress for various causes. social justice.

Ross began his full-time organizational work at the age of 23 with farm workers during the 1970 Salinas Lettuce Mass Strike. One of the notable contributions was the organization 110 mile march against Gallo winesfrom San Francisco’s Union Square to the Gallo headquarters, where at least 10,000 farm workers and supporters filled the streets of Modesto.

One reason for the march against Gallo was to pressure Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the bill. Law on labor relations in agricultureadopted in June 1975. It was the first law of its kind, establishing the right of agricultural workers to organize, vote in union elections, and negotiate with their employers.

Ross has used home meetings as a central tactic throughout his career. This was the hallmark of Ross’s approach to organization: the creation of individual relationships for, in his words, the exercise of “collective power.”

Arturo Rodriguez, who succeeded Chavez as president of the UFW and served in that position for 25 years, said Ross “really embodied the motto If possible“. He explained that Ross’s belief in home meetings “throughout all these decades has been truly incredible, and it gave me the confidence to continue the process of home meetings as our main way of organizing.”

In the 1980s, Ross directed Neighbor to Neighbor, which initially focused on the plight of Central American refugees, but became a much larger effort to counter U.S. policies in the region that helped people flee their countries.

After lobbying Congress to end US aid to the Contras, a right-wing rebel group fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, the Neighbor to Neighbor program was launched. boycott of salvadoran coffee put pressure on the government to withdraw its support for the death squads. As a result pickets formed by neighbor to neighbordockers refused to offload cargoes of coffee on the entire West Coast, including long beach.

After California voters approved Proposition 187 in 1994, promoted by Gov. Pete Wilson, Ross helped launch the Active Citizenship Campaign in Los Angeles, which successfully lobbied the Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed up the citizenship application process by up to six months as a result. pressure.

“We not only played a significant role in helping thousands of people naturalize, but, more importantly, they became much more involved in the entire political process,” Ross recalled shortly before his death. “This was a real step forward in further building Hispanic suffrage in California.”

In the last year of his life, Ross devoted himself to making a documentary about his father’s legacy. The film, which is expected to be released in 2023, aims to inspire others to organize, and it does so by highlighting the impact of mass organization on long-term change.

“Like his father, Fred Jr.’s work was never dedicated to him,” the Farm Workers’ Union said. in tribute. “He always tried to teach others to believe that they were responsible for the progress they made. Fred Jr.’s character was relentlessly positive; I always thought something could be done.”

In his memory…

Fred Ross Jr. is survived by his wife, Margot Feinberg; their son and daughter Charlie and Helen Ross; his brother Robert Ross; and her sister Julia Ross. In memory of her family asks to contribute to a documentary project Fred Ross Sr. through fredrossproject.org. Condolences and memories sent to [email protected] will be passed on to his family.