BY MIMI WHITEFIELD

 The Spanish American League Against Discrimination received about 30 phones calls this week from workers complaining they were fired for participating in Tuesday's work stoppage protesting the predawn seizure of Elian Gonzalez.

 Those calls were followed up by a half-dozen written complaints, detailing the circumstances of the workers' terminations, said Osvaldo Soto, an attorney who is chairman of the organization.

 ``We prefer not to mention the names of the employers at this point,'' Soto said.

 But he planned to follow up by writing them, asking that they reconsider and rehire any employees who didn't report to work Tuesday because they were taking part in the work stoppage.

 ``We are trying to be persuasive at this point. Hopefully, this will work,'' Soto said. ``We have to learn to be sensitive to each other's problems.''

 That was the same tone struck by six business and civic organization that issued a joint statement Monday urging their members to be understanding of workers' exercising their ``right to peacefully protest.''

 The signatories included the Beacon Council, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mesa Redonda, the Non-Group and the United Way of Miami-Dade.

 ``We encourage all of our members to the degree possible to respect their employees' rights to participate in these peaceful activities,'' their statement said. ``We recognize that many businesses by their nature have an obligation to serve their customers and therefore must remain open. Their decision, too, must be respected.''

 Soto also asked Gov. Jeb Bush to issue a general plea to employers to rehire any employees who were fired after taking part in the work stoppage. Bush met Thursday with a group of civic leaders, including Soto, to urge a peaceful and constructive response to the Elian Gonzalez crisis.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald