Flower industry advocates like corporations and Colombian banks go so far as to describe women workers as “a ready supply of cheap female labor for sorting and packing the flowers,” (from an industry guidebook written in 1993). It is also a common belief to assume that women are more ideal to work with flowers since, for some reason, women have more nimble fingers and provide more delicate handling of flowers. Due to the repetitive and rapid motions of working with flowers, many women develop stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Workers from temp agencies are less invested in their jobs because they are paid poorly, trained poorly, treated poorly and are often looking for something better. They are less likely to report a health hazard because they can be fired at the drop of a hat and replaced. They are denied the rights entitled to unionized or regular workers. Management rarely has the capacity to fully train a transient, temporary workforce so a temp worker may not know proper health and safety protocols. This creates an obvious danger zone. Their lack of healthcare benefits and sick days brings workers' illnesses into the food processing facilities which than get passed on to consumers.

After years of trying to engage in a dialogue with Asocolflores over the labor standards in their Florverde certification program, we have many doubts about their concern for workers given their lack of interest in improving the labor rights component.
Florverde DOES NOT:
•    Give workers the right to form the organization of
their choice. (instead promoting only  "information and participation

In a matter of days I’ve learned that flowers mostly come from Ecuador and that child labor is sometimes practiced. I’ve also learned that women workers are faced with dangerous situations that aren’t healthy for them. Everyday women whether pregnant or not have to face poisons because, if not, the flowers will not grow or get nurtured properly.