While Kenneth Hurst may think that Gallo workers, or the entire
labor movement for that matter, are unjustified in their claims for
higher wages or a contract (“Wine workers’ demands
irrational, unproductive,” May 31), the claims he made in his
submission are realistically the only claims that are completely
irrational and contradict the humanistic values of life, freedom
and worth.
To assume that Gallo workers’ labor consists merely of
“repetitive tasks that require little thinking” and
thus are not worth a higher salary is a disgusting claim.
It’s obvious that he and others with his point of view
have never actually looked at the labor conditions or current
market analysis of these workers, much less had compassion for the
human value of their lives or labor.
Does he even know the reason for the boycott on Gallo wine? It
certainly appears not, as his article implies workers want higher
wages merely for “unsubstantiated, fallacious and
immoral” reasons, and are thus “destroying the entire
concept of earning and effectively putting Gallo’s resources
at the disposal of people who do not own them.”
Again, I wonder, has he looked at labor issues more
realistically than a paper-and-pen economic analysis? Has he
considered the truth of the violations against these workers by
Gallo and the validity in workers’ attempts to right those
wrongs?
Only by generalizing, not looking at facts, and adopting the
same self-serving and greedy mind-set as those whose
“productive genius” runs Gallo could he possibly
support the notion that their work is not worth the basic human
right to freedom.
Gallo workers do not have freedom ““ they do not have the
option to “accept or reject the (Gallo employment)
offer,” as he claims. Rather, most have no say in the
negotiation of unlivable wages appropriated by big business. And
many cannot afford to live on their current wages.
Gallo workers are fighting not just for wages, but for a fair
union contract that can guarantee their rights to such items as
potable water in the fields, wages high enough to pay living costs,
and the right to gather and negotiate without having their
residency, jobs or livelihoods threatened.
Somehow, it’s always those on top (making the most money)
and those who don’t seem to realize the intensely harsh
conditions for these workers who think they have the right to judge
whose labor deserves these basic necessities in the workplace and
whose does not.
Labor, no matter the type, deserves adequate livable wages and
workplaces that promote rather than destroy the well-being of
employees ““ two standards that Gallo has failed to give its
workers for over 30 years.
Some of us, like myself, have compassion for those who
physically suffer in ways that most corporate thinkers, university
students and non-immigrant families cannot even imagine ““ and
we support the notion that they do in fact deserve more pay.
Younger is a third-year Latin American studies and Chicana/o
studies student.