Hundreds of South Florida plant nursery workers are expected to march 2miles through Coral Gables on Friday for International Workers’ Day.
The march coincides with the first day of Miami-Dade County’s annual heat season, which lasts until Oct. 31.
The event will include faith leaders and labor organizers calling on popular, big-chain retailers, like Trader Joe’s, Target, Aldi and Home Depot, to join what’s called the Planting Justice Program.
Oscar Londoño, the co-executive director of the organization, WeCount, said the goal is to raise awareness about the dangerous working conditions and culture of discrimination that immigrant workers face.
"There are thousands of workers working in neighborhoods like Homestead, Florida City and the Redland, and far removed from these, the urban core of Miami. So we think it's important for us to actually take workers from Homestead, drive them up to Coral Gables and march down U.S. 1 to make sure that we remind people, that this is not an invisible human rights crisis," he said.
More than 70% of the country’s houseplants are produced in Florida.
READ MORE: New study finds Cubans face 'concerted targeting' for immigration arrests, green card rejections
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