LEICESTER ― Community, labor and faith groups gathered in Leicester and Asheville for a Day of Action to call on the world’s largest grower of ornamental plants, Costa Farms, to join WeCount's Planting Justice Program.
Headquartered in South Florida, Costa Farms grows and supplies plants to the country’s largest retail brands, including Lowe’s, Costco, Home Depot, Walmart, Target and Whole Foods.
In 2001, Costa Farms expanded its presence to North Carolina after acquiring Velvet Ridge Greenhouses and establishing Costa Carolina in Leicester. As an industry giant, it also employs plant nursery workers in Virginia and South Carolina.
Madi Paez of WeCount said that on the Sept. 8 Day of Action, workers, community organizers and religious leaders delivered
petitions at Costa Farms locations in Miami, central Florida, South Carolina and Virginia, in addition to the Leicester location on Bear Creek Road and the Velvet Ridge nursery in Asheville.
WeCount is a human rights organization led by immigrant workers and families in Homestead, Florida. Its Planting Justice Program asks major growers and retailers of houseplants to certify their commitment to upholding standards of fair, safe and dignified treatment of nursery workers, many of whom are immigrants from indigenous communities in Central America and the Caribbean, Paez said.
In June, WeCount launched a petition calling on Costa Farms to join the program. The petition seeks heat protections for workers as well as adequate wages and benefits.
"People have no paid sick or vacation leave, and this is an industry where injuries and illness are really common, especially with exposure to toxic pesticides," said Paez. "Workers have to pay for their own protective equipment. When you're barely earning minimum wage and you have to make the choice between bringing food home to your family or paying for gloves and masks, you're going to choose to use that money to bring food home to your family."
Costa Farms did not respond to requests for comment via mail and phone call, nor did industry group the North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association.
Many nursery employees are working under the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs, Paez said. Dependent on the farms where they work for housing, they may fear losing it if they speak out about conditions, she said.
"You're living and working in the same place, and your employer is also your landlord. There's an extra layer of complication of speaking out against your conditions because then you might not have housing," she said.
The petition collected nearly 3,000 signatures, which organizers delivered to the Costa Farms locations Sept. 8, Paez said.
Campaign grows from effort for heat ordinance in Florida
In 2021, WeCount organized a campaign that sought to pass a municipal heat ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that would protect outdoor workers.
"The legislation was basically advocating for water, shade and rest for people who are outside in 100-degree temperatures," Paez said. "We've been at the table for years and have introduced the program to them on multiple occasions."
WeCount surveyed hundreds of nursery workers in Florida, releasing its "Human Cost of Houseplants" report alongside the campaign launch in February. In its research, WeCount estimated the houseplant industry generates $50 billion annually.
"We have hope that they're going to make the right decision to join us in the program," Paez said. "If they're the supposed leaders of this industry and are doing the right things, what is the gap between their practices and what we're asking them to enforce?"
Participants in the Day of Action locally included Just Economics, a regional economic justice advocacy and membership organization based in Asheville. It says on its website it is seeking to build a fair and sustainable local economy.
“In Asheville, we’ve seen what can happen when workers organize for better wages, protections and respect on the job," Mike Holmes, a community organizer with Just Economics, said in a Sept. 8 news release. "Agricultural workers across the South have too often been left out of those gains, which is why what nursery workers are doing in South Florida matters here in North Carolina and beyond. Costa Farms can show that it’s listening to the workers who make its business possible by joining the Planting Justice Program and setting a higher standard for the industry.”
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for the Citizen Times and the News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: WNC activists push top houseplant grower for worker rights pledge
