Presidential Document2023-07088
César Chávez Day, 2023
Primary source
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Published
April 4, 2023
Signed
March 30, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 64 (Tuesday, April 4, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 4, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19797-19798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07088]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 64 / Tuesday, April 4, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
[[Page 19797]]
Proclamation 10537 of March 30, 2023
C[eacute]sar Ch[aacute]vez Day, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Today, we honor C[eacute]sar E. Ch[aacute]vez by
carrying on the cause--``La Causa''--to which he
dedicated his life: championing the dignity and rights
of every worker, using nonviolence to fight for
justice, and standing with organized labor to build an
economy that rewards work and not just wealth.
C[eacute]sar E. Ch[aacute]vez came of age picking
produce and cotton in the fields of California. He
labored in intense heat, all too familiar with the
harms of poisonous pesticides. And he learned early on
about the power of organizing for basic dignity and
respect through his work with Fred Ross and the
Community Service Organization. Working alongside
trailblazing labor activist Dolores Huerta and inspired
by heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma
Gandhi, he founded the United Farm Workers of America
in 1962. Over the following three decades,
Ch[aacute]vez marched, fasted, and boycotted--
campaigning for collective bargaining rights, a minimum
wage, unemployment insurance, and better health and
safety standards for his fellow workers. His courage
opened America's eyes to injustice and ushered in a new
age of opportunity for farm workers and the working
class.
On what would be his 96th birthday, Ch[aacute]vez's
life and legacy as a leader of the labor and civil
rights movements continue to guide our efforts to grow
our economy from the bottom up and the middle out--
fighting every day for America's working class. My
Administration is creating good-paying jobs, protecting
the retirement savings of millions of union workers,
pushing to ban unfair non-compete agreements, and
strengthening workers' rights to organize. Since I took
office, the Department of Labor has recovered $16.3
million in back pay and damages--compensation employers
owed to their employees--for nearly 20,000 farmworkers.
This hard-earned money can mean a worker's ability to
pay rent, buy groceries, or save for their children's
futures.
The Department of Labor is also working on new rules to
protect workers from extreme heat in the workplace, and
it is conducting inspections in industries with high
incidences of heat-related illnesses or deaths.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has provided
hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance
to farmworkers and meatpacking workers for expenses
incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also
helped agricultural employers to implement more robust
health and safety standards.
There is more work to do. That is why I continue to
call for paid sick leave for every worker in America;
for stronger organizing and collective bargaining
rights; and for better conditions for people who work
on farms, on ranches, and across the food and
agricultural industry. I encourage the Congress to pass
the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. I also
encourage the Congress to pass the Farm Workforce
Modernization Act to create a pathway to citizenship
for farmworkers, who put food on our tables and sustain
our Nation.
This C[eacute]sar Ch[aacute]vez Day, as we celebrate an
American hero, let us be united in our efforts to stand
up for the dignity and rights of all workers. I proudly
keep a bust of C[eacute]sar E. Ch[aacute]vez in the
Oval Office, which reminds me daily of my commitment to
the Latino community and to the American
[[Page 19798]]
people. The First Lady has honored his legacy with the
Ch[aacute]vez family in Keene and Delano, California,
home of Ch[aacute]vez's movement. I want to ensure the
American Dream is within reach of all who live in our
Nation, not just because it is right for our economy,
but because it is the right thing to do for humanity.
In Ch[aacute]vez's own words, ``The love for justice
that is in us is not only the best part of our being,
but it is also the most true to our nature.''
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31,
2023, as C[eacute]sar Ch[aacute]vez Day. I call upon
all Americans to observe this day as a day of service
and learning, with appropriate service, community, and
education programs to honor C[eacute]sar E.
Ch[aacute]vez's enduring legacy.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-07088
Filed 4-3-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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