Presidential Document2023-09414
Workers Memorial Day, 2023
Primary source
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Published
May 2, 2023
Signed
April 27, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 84 (Tuesday, May 2, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 2, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27395-27396]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09414]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 84 / Tuesday, May 2, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 27395]]
Proclamation 10558 of April 27, 2023
Workers Memorial Day, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
A record 160 million Americans get up and go to work
every day to provide for their families, build their
communities, and earn a piece of the American Dream.
But too many are exposed to unsafe working conditions,
injured, or even killed in preventable accidents on the
job. And millions of firefighters, police officers, and
other first responders put their lives on the line as a
matter of course to keep the rest of us safe. We need
to have their backs. On Workers Memorial Day, we honor
every American worker who has sacrificed their own life
or well-being; we stand with the unions that fight for
them every day; and we recommit to protecting the
fundamental right to a safe and healthy workplace.
I ran for office to restore the backbone of America--
the middle class--and I am proud to be the most pro-
labor President in history. The middle class built this
country, and union workers built the middle class.
Nearly every law protecting workers' rights passed
because unions fought for it. That includes the
Occupational Safety and Health Act, which took effect
51 years ago today, laying the groundwork for
foundational health, safety, and whistleblower
protections that continue to protect workers
nationwide.
My Administration has built on that legacy from the
start, securing $200 million in American Rescue Plan
funding to help keep workers safe and guarantee paid
sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. We protected
pensions for millions of workers and retirees so that
hardworking Americans can enjoy the healthy and stable
retirement they worked their whole lives to secure. The
historic infrastructure, manufacturing, and clean
energy laws that I signed as part of our Investing in
America agenda are spurring billions of dollars in
private investments and helping to create millions of
good-paying jobs while requiring strong labor practices
like prevailing wages, expanding Registered
Apprenticeships, and protecting benefits for coal
miners with black lung disease. Throughout, we have
stood against union busting and supported striking
workers, who fight for better pay and safer conditions.
We have cracked down on wage theft and worker
misclassification so employers cannot avoid paying fair
wages or full benefits. We are making it easier for
workers to report abuses and unsafe working conditions,
even if they are undocumented--improving safety,
boosting pay, and raising standards for everyone.
At the same time, my Administration has strengthened
workplace safety enforcement and training, hiring
hundreds of new workplace inspectors and increasing
site visits by 30 percent. We launched a program to
inspect workplaces for extreme heat, which can harm
construction, farm, factory, warehouse, delivery, and
other workers. We have invested more than $100 million
in training farm workers to avoid injuries. And we have
fought for first responders by cracking down on toxic
PFAS--the so-called ``forever chemicals'' that have
been used for years to produce firefighting equipment
and fire suppression agents, making firefighters sick--
and funding research into PFAS alternatives. I also
signed bills qualifying more than 10,000 Federal
firefighters for critical workers' compensation and
extending tax-free retirement benefits to firefighters
permanently disabled on the job and to families
[[Page 27396]]
of late firefighters who faced trauma. My latest Budget
would invest $430 million more to help Federal agencies
promote safe worksites, protect benefits, increase
penalties for labor violations, and end child labor for
good. Our Administration has worked across the board to
expand access to health care through the Affordable
Care Act and Medicaid, saving millions of families $800
a year each on premiums. Today, more Americans have
health insurance than ever before in our history.
We have more to do. For starters, the United States is
still one of the only countries in the world that does
not guarantee paid sick leave, forcing too many workers
to have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a
sick or injured loved one or for themselves. The
Congress needs to pass sick days for all and a national
paid leave program right away to change that.
A safe and healthy workplace is fundamental. In the
United States of America, no one should have to risk
their lives just to make a living. Today, we honor
those workers who put it all on the line, and we keep
their families in our hearts. We celebrate the
whistleblowers and union organizers whose courage and
persistence has saved countless lives, and we join them
in standing up for all American workers, who are the
best in the world.
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 April 28,
2023, as Workers Memorial Day. I call upon all
Americans to observe this day with appropriate service,
community, and education programs and ceremonies in
memory of those killed or injured due to unsafe working
conditions.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-seventh day of April, 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. 2023-09414
Filed 5-1-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 2, 2023.
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