Special Coverage: Labor Day in South Florida 2025. Workers Over Billionaires
September 1, 2025
By Philip Cardella
There were a lot of protests (and related things like a prayer vigil and a rally) in South Florida this holiday weekend and organizers might be forgiven if they found the turnout at any one of them disappointing. From the fifth consecutive Sunday prayer vigil at the South Florida Detention Facility (aka that place with the racist name) drawing well over 100 people despite terrible weather, to the protest drawing hundreds in Miami Beach over the planned removal of a rainbow (ish) crosswalk, to the actual Labor Day protests, there was a lot going on and that may (or may not) have diluted participation at any one event.
Oh, and estimates suggested that a record 17 million people flew this weekend– so people were doing things!
Let's take the protests and vigils chronologically.
Rainbow sidewalk removal, Miami Beach, Sunday, August 31 (NOTE: TWIFL did not attend or cover this particular event, sadly)
Any South Floridian would be forgiven for failing to notice that something other than the Miami Hurricane football game yesterday (which has no fewer than seven stories on the front page of the website of the Miami Herald at time of writing) if they were reading the Miami Herald.
Still, at the very bottom of the news page is a story about the hundreds of protesters that showed up in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach (sorry, LeBron, South Beach is just a neighborhood, in a city not named Miami, where the Miami Heat do not and never have played) to protest the removal of a rainbow themed cross walk. I ranted about this planned removal last week, but, alas, I missed the protest yesterday.
The Herald's story isn't much of a story but it does have a lot of great pictures. Again, none of it is my work! But check it out. Kudos to the Herald for sending the photographer.
The main takeaway: people in Miami Beach and people who love Miami Beach are pissed. Also, is this really somehow offensive to someone? Really? I didn't even realize it was a symbol of gay pride until the state drew attention to it last week.
Prayer Vigil at the South Florida Detention Facility, the middle of US 41 in the Everglades, Sunday, August 31
I stopped counting prayer vigil attendees at 100 on Sunday. I'd guess it was more than 120 and fewer than 150 there. Given there was a lot going on this weekend, that it rained so hard on the way there I nearly pulled over and that it rained so hard on the way home I nearly pulled over and the mosquitos it's a testament to the commitment people of the people who attended that they were there at all.
There was a liturgy, a sort of call and response with religious themes, written by the Rev. Dr. Andrea Byer-Thomas (photo below) that pulled from the scriptures of Islam, Judaism, indigenous faiths and Christianity to bless the immigrants in the detention center and to commit the audience to praying for the immigrants. Hopefully, I'll have video up soon (there's an hour of footage I need to sort through).
The faith coalition putting these prayer vigils together have broken up leading the vigils "by region." This week is was Sarasota's turn. Sarasota is just south of Tampa and 175 miles away from the detention center where the prayer vigil was held. That's a three hour drive in good conditions.
Workers Over Billionaires, Key Largo, Florida, September 1, 2025, 9 AM-10 AM
Perhaps fifty people gathered before the sun unleashed its full unrelenting power onto the island in the Florida Keys that inspired the Beach Boys, situated maybe 25 miles south of the Miami Metro. US 1 there, though boasting a posted speed limit of just 45 miles per hour, is a busy road (the only one that connects the keys) where people only slow down if there's something in the way. It's hard to hear and not likely anyone would stop near this spot for something like a stop light.
Organizers of the event came up with a clever way to get their message across: they created a 20 poster wide flip sign message for passersby. They also practiced facing the signs, first north, then south, along the road to make sure cars from both sides could see them. It was one of the more clever displays I've seen.
There were obviously the creative signs (and costumes) that are present at most of these events. There were also a couple of "counter protesters." At the No Kings event in June counter protesters were sometimes organized and often clever. TWIFL always cheers creative uses of the first amendment (click here and go to the bottom of the page).
Unfortunately, the counter-protesters in Key Largo simply deployed an uncreative use of sign language, and in one case, the grabbing of his own genitals. No disrespect intended to the, ahem, "bird." We at TWIFL are fine with birds, whether in sign language or the pretty kind with feathers. And the history of the middle finger is...for another post.
It is worth noting that there were no reporters at this protest– one of the reasons I started TWIFL was to make sure stuff like this got covered (no matter who was protesting).
Whereas the protests over the "summer" at the Torch of Friendship peaked at perhaps 8,000 on No Kings Day, the crowd on Labor Day at the same location seemed to this reporter to be in the low hundreds, maybe 300. To make up for lack of numbers the protesters did have live music.
TWIFL approves of live music at protests, rallies, birthday parties, parties in general, sporting events, non-sporting events and just about anywhere there are human beings.
While the event started off sunny, it quickly turned into a downpour and then into a gassy mess (more on that in a minute). As the rain poured on the protesters, they gathered under the two pop up shelters and the large tree. Undeterred, protesters chatted happily until the rain passed and then returned to the plaza.
After the rain protesters returned to the plaza, heard a speech, did a cheer and then...some of the observers tasked with making sure the crowd was safe started to smell gas.
My guess is that the Torch of Friendship was temporarily extinguished by rain and cause the smell of gas to pour into the area. The organizers did the right thing and asked protesters to disperse at around 12:30 PM.
To be clear, there were at least three news crews at this protest. I didn't see or hear any counter protesters or jeers against this crowd.
Here is a video of the two Workers Over Billionaires protests on Monday.
Union rally at Miami International Airport Terminal E, Labor Day, 2025 3:30 PM
A short video capturing some of the sights and sounds at the We Are Miami Rally at Miami International Airport on Labor Day 2025.
A rally that may have gone under the radar of some and may have attracted the full attention of others was at Miami International Airport (near "Door 11," for locals).
The rally was organized by several unions including Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ, Unite Here Local 355 South Florida, AFL-CIO of South Florida, 1199 SEIU Florida, SEIU Local 1991, We Count, and the state chapter of the SEIU, and Communication Workers of America, commonly referred to simply as CWA.
The theme of the rally was, "We are Miami. We are workers. We are families. We are immigrants." The advert had the words We Are Miami translated into Spanish (Somos Miami) and Haitian Creole (Nou Se Miami).
I'll be honest, I'm not sure how to estimate the crush of people in that tiny space. I think they could have spread out more but they chose instead to be shoulder to shoulder. I am certain there were more than 100 there. How many over 100 I'm unsure.
I am also certain they could be heard on the outside of the entire concourse, including Terminals D and E, at least on their side of the building. They could also be heard inside the concourse by anyone near the windows looking out toward the protest. I could clearly hear them from the Dolphin Parking structure (for locals), which is not the parking structure closest to where they are standing.
This was despite a crush of holiday traffic bogging down the almost always over crowded drive ways near the airport doors. For locals reading this what I'm saying is, it was worse traffic than usual. It was bad.
Yet the cheers of the crowd could be heard over the car traffic and normal airport traffic.
Miami Dade County Commissioner and candidate from Mayor of Miami (that's the "little mayor," Mayor of Miami, not the "big mayor," the Mayor of Miami Dade County) Eileen Higgins was there and spoke in front of the crowd.
The rally at the airport by the unions was easily the most energetic, entertaining and enlightening out of any event I've been too recently, perhaps ever. Speakers spoke passionately about the need to protect jobs, wages and each other. The powerful rhythmic chants led by, I believe, several different people, exhibited the skills developed over past labor disputes, at firing up a crowd and getting them unified.
I'll try to post video soon, but it was an energy that had to be experienced to fully grasp.
I hope to have video of each of these (except the one in Miami Beach, which I felt ok inserting here only because I took a bunch of photos there this week before the protest), soon.
The part where I ask for money and support
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Philip Cardella