¡Qué Calor!
¡Qué Calor! is a worker-led campaign to win life-saving protections for outdoor workers in South Florida. On the frontlines of climate change and extreme heat, hundreds of thousands of outdoor workers in South Florida are forced to work outside in the extreme heat without any local, state, or federal heat standards. Led by those most impacted by the problem – farmworkers, plant nursery workers, day laborers, and construction workers – ¡Qué Calor! is building a grassroots movement for climate, health, and labor justice.
Our Campaign Video
Our Core Strategies
As a campaign, our approach centers on four core strategies: base-building, leadership development, popular education, and grassroots advocacy. Our campaign is participatory and brings together workers across outdoor industries to identify shared problems, develop worker-informed solutions, and organize to win protections.
Our activities include: worksite and neighborhood outreach, listening sessions, campaign strategy meetings, health and safety workshops, radio education, leadership and civic engagement training, and policy advocacy. Through these activities, workers take on roles, develop their leadership skills, and scale the reach and impact of the campaign.
In The News
“I still am afraid for my life because of the heat and I still need to work…We are the workers that put food on the table and we suffer through the heat.”
“I didn’t want to go home. I needed to work and buy food. I didn’t want to lose hours…It’s getting hotter. Even when I started five years ago, it was less hot…I ask myself – what’s going to happen?”
“We are human beings....The fact that we work under the sun, that we work hard, does not mean we are not human beings, that we don’t deserve respect.”
“We’re seeing temperatures above 100 degrees. We meet workers who tell us that their bosses don’t give them even 10- or 15-minute breaks. They know it’s inhumane to work under those conditions, but they have to pay their bills.”
Heat Season
On May 1, 2022, Miami-Dade County inaugurated its first-ever Heat Season. In recognition of this Heat Season and International Workers’ Day, WeCount! mobilized more than 200 outdoor workers to Downtown Miami to demand life-saving protections: Water, Shade, Rest.
Heat Assembly
On September 26, 2021, WeCount! organized a historic Heat Assembly in Homestead, Florida, with outdoor workers and allies, including government stakeholders and labor, climate, and public health organizations to launch ¡Qué Calor!.
Our Campaign Allies
MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF OUR FUNDERS
