Samuel M. Salgado; Farm Labor Organizer

Funeral services will be held today for Samuel M. Salgado of Moorpark, a farm laborer who helped organize agricultural workers in Ventura County and across the state. He was 58.

Salgado died Wednesday at Simi Valley Hospital after a brief illness. He was born July 12, 1934, in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, and was a resident of Ventura County for 30 years.

He was one of the first employees of Egg City in Moorpark when it opened in the early 1960s, and worked there for nearly 30 years. Salgado led two strikes of employees at the egg-producing facility, the first in 1975, months before passage of the state Farm Labor Act made such strikes easier.

“Salgado was a gifted organizer and a great friend of ours,” said Cesar Chavez, who founded the United Farm Workers in 1962 during a strike by Delano grape workers. Salgado joined Chavez’s campaign in Delano and continued to organize for the United Farm Workers in Ventura County and elsewhere.

He was later elected to the union’s national board, where he specialized in designing pension plans for farm worker contracts, Chavez said.

Chavez attributed Salgado’s success as an organizer to his knowledge of the work force. “He was one of them,” Chavez said.

“He was an accomplished negotiator and a very, very good human being. He attracted people to him quickly.”

Karl Lawson, a former associate of Salgado’s when both worked for the United Farm Workers, said Salgado was instrumental in getting the first farm labor contract in Ventura County at Egg City. Lawson said that thanks to Salgado, Egg City workers were among the first agricultural employees in the county to receive pension plans and comprehensive medical coverage.

“Salgado was a leader in the truest sense of the word and a natural-born organizer,” Lawson said.

Survivors include his wife Flora R. of Moorpark; a daughter, Guadalupe Gutierrez of Camarillo; six sons, Jesus, David, Raul, Sergio, Cristobal and Samuel Jr., all of Moorpark; a sister, Hilda Alejandre of Oxnard; three brothers, Juan Salgado of Camarillo and Ramon and Eduardo, both of Mexico; and 18 grandchildren.

A memorial Mass will be held at 6 p.m. today at Holy Cross Church in Moorpark. Salgado will be buried in Mexico. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Garcia Mortuary, Oxnard.