HOPE IN THE FIELDS

THE PALM BEACH POST

EDITORIAL

Sunday, January 30, 2000

Farm workers in the United States have labored under shameful conditions for most of the past century. Improvements have been only modest and have come only after great struggle.

At times, social activists have wondered whether meaningful change even was possible. How, after all, do you find solutions to satisfy the disparate parties: farmers, who are at the mercy of Florida weather and foreign imports; buyers, who always search for the lowest prices; and the farm workers, who are denied political voice and entrenched in migratory lives of poverty.

Some hopeful glimmers, however, are coming from Immokalee, in the farm country southwest of Fort Myers. Three weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., met with tomato pickers and listened to their complaints. A year ago, Gov. Bush came to Immokalee and helped mediate the pickers' first pay raise in 20 years. Such visits by politicians are rare.

Now, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which represents the pickers, has an innovative plan for raising their standard of living. The group is asking Taco Bell, a huge buyer of Florida tomatoes, to voluntarily pay 1 cent more per pound. The growers then would pass on the money to their pickers.

Just that penny almost would double workers' wages. Most pickers earn about 45 cents per 32-pound bucket and could make 77 cents if Taco Bell agreed. Growers are selling tomatoes for between 30 and 35 cents per pound at the farm level. A spokeswoman for Tricon Global Restaurants, Taco Bell's parent company that also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, said the corporation hasn't studied the proposal.

If the company agrees, growers would benefit by getting a stable, motivated work force and reason for consumers to reject cheaper Mexican tomatoes picked by exploited workers. Tricon would benefit by getting favorable publicity. The pickers get something closer to a decent wage. Isn't that reason enough to pay 2 cents more for a chalupa?