PHILADELPHIA, PA – Horticultural Designers, Nursery Workers, and Gardeners at Enliven Planters have voted 24- 5 to join the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local USA 829, United Scenic Artists, the union announced Tuesday. The newly formed bargaining unit covers 30 workers.
Enliven Planters designs, installs, and maintains custom container gardens and seasonal planters for homes, businesses, and neighborhoods throughout the Philadelphia region. Each arrangement is a living composition of color, texture, and form, created by designers and gardeners who combine artistic vision, horticultural expertise, and skilled hands.
The campaign began in May 2024, when Enliven workers, frustrated with their working conditions, started talking about organizing and connected with USA 829 for support. Over more than two years, and through many staffing changes, they built solidarity around wages, safety, and access to benefits. On August 28, 2026, the workers delivered a letter to Enliven co-founders asking the company to voluntarily recognize their union. When management refused, the workers filed for an NLRB election and won it on October 14.
Management responded with a conventional anti-union campaign, flooding workers with information and insisting that unionizing was not right for them. The workers had built such strong solidarity that they were largely unfazed. The Philadelphia AFL-CIO publicly backed the campaign, and Philadelphia City Councilmembers-at-Large Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Kendra Brooks, Isaiah Thomas, and Rev. Nicolas O’Rourke wrote to management in support of the workers and a fair election.
“USA 829 has always represented the artists and craftspeople who shape the spaces people live in, whether that’s a theater, a film set, or a city street,” said Sandy Phillips, National Business Agent for Local USA 829. “The workers at Enliven Planters organized because they love what they do and want it to be sustainable. Their win shows that creative workers in every field can build power together.”
An Enliven gardener involved in the organizing drive reflected on the victory: “Organizing is a beautiful thing. It played a huge part in building the middle class in this country, which now seems to be disappearing. There are so many wonderful and seriously hard-working people who work at Enliven. We have taken the step of unionizing with Local USA 829 because we want the best for each other, and we want the job we love to be more sustainable for us.”
