Cruz Ricardo Olavarrieta; Labor Organizer
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Noted Saticoy farm labor leader Cruz Ricardo Olavarrieta, who fought to improve fieldworkers’ wages and working conditions for 25 years, died of a stroke Wednesday at the age of 73.
Olavarrieta, known as “El General” in the farm-worker community, was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and came to Ventura County in the late 1950s. He was a leader in the lengthy strike and boycott of Dole products from January, 1982, to March, 1983, traveling throughout the state to promote a consumer boycott of the company’s products, associates said.
He participated in a United Farm Workers strike at the large mushroom farm on Olivas Park Road in Ventura, where he worked from 1960 until his retirement in 1985, to obtain the workers’ first labor contract. Olavarrieta also testified before the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board on issues relating to workers’ rights, friends said.
Olavarrieta is survived by his wife, Teresa; two sons and two brothers.
Arrangements are being handled by Garcia Mortuary in Oxnard.
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