Labor Groups Use Market Pressure to Secure Heat Protections
WeCount and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are pressuring retailers to force farms to adopt heat safety standards as government regulations remain stalled.
Labor organizations are implementing a market-based enforcement model to secure heat protections for low-wage workers after the hottest summer on record. This strategy, pioneered by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, bypasses stalled government regulation by pressuring brand-name retailers to pay premiums to farms that follow a worker-protection code of conduct.
WeCount, a Miami-based organization, is currently applying this model through its planting justice program. The group is targeting Costa Farms, one of the world's largest indoor plant growers, to establish an industry-wide safety standard. Costa Farms stated that its existing systems already include paid heat-prevention training, a comprehensive heat illness prevention plan, and onsite medical support.
These private efforts follow significant legislative hurdles. The Florida state legislature passed a pre-emptive law blocking local ordinances that would have mandated heat protections in Miami-Dade County. Simultaneously, proposed federal standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration remain stalled. Oscar Londoño, co-executive director of WeCount, noted that the lack of protections has led to numerous stories of heatstroke, while the absence of federal and state mandates has been linked to worker fatalities in Mississippi and increased kidney disease among outdoor workers in Texas.
