Naples Daily News, 11/4/98

Farmworkers' Hunger Strike

Growers, it's time to talk

An open appeal to the tomato growers of Southwest Florida:

Sit down and talk.

Talk to those who work in your fields and talk to those of us who don't. Both groups deserve this indulgence, if not out of respect for them and us, then out of respect for yourselves.

Your workers say they cannot live on daily wages you pay and are pleading for a raise. Six of them are on a hunger strike. Yet, only one of you, Gargiulo Inc., shows interest in their concerns. The rest of you respond with silence. You refuse to talk to the workers, the news media or the public.

The time for talk is now. Gov. Lawton Chiles is right when he says there is much common ground between growers and workers and "it is the best interest of all to work together to produce quality vegetables." Open a meaningful dialogue as the governor requested Friday.

Without a dialogue, the six fasting farmworkers in Immokalee move closer to martyrdom, an act that will widen the rift between workers and growers to a chasm that cannot be spanned.

Without a dialogue, none of us can truly understand or appreciate your side of the issue. The majority will continue to believe you are scared to speak your mind, or you are arrogant, or you just don't care.

Without a dialogue, it will be assumed your own greed is the reason wages in the fields haven't increased in 20 years.

Your silence only hurts you and breeds misunderstanding in your community.

Start the dialogue now.

Immokalee needs talk, not martyrs.