AFL-CIO Urges Congress to Make César Chávez’s Birthday a National Holiday

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/01/afl-cio-urges-congress-to-make-csar-chvezs-birthday-a-national-holiday/

by James Parks, Apr 1, 2008

Thirteen states already celebrate the birthday of the late César Chávez, one of the most inspirational union and human rights leaders of 20th century. Today, members of Congress and the union movement renewed their efforts to establish Chávez’s March 31 birthday as a national holiday.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference today, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:



We support this holiday because we want to honor what César Chávez did in his lifetime. And we support this holiday because the legacy of César Chávez will inspire others to soldier on—and there is still so much work left to do.

Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, along with nearly 60 co-sponsors, introduced a bill in Congress (H. Res. 76) to create a National César Chávez Day. In 2000, California was the first state to honor Chávez, who died in 1993, with a holiday, and Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin also have established Chávez holidays. (You can sign and download a petition to create a national holiday honoring Chávez.)

The Capitol Hill press conference follows the March 31 launch in Los Angeles of a campaign, spearheaded by the César Chávez National Holiday Coalition, to win a national holiday honoring the founder and former president of the United Farm Workers (UFW). The coalition’s co-chair and music legend Carlos Santana says:

César Chávez was a national treasure and he deserves a national holiday. As a labor activist and a leader of the United Farm Workers, his voice for migrant farm workers and his tireless leadership helped focus national attention on their horrible working conditions which ultimately led to improvements. He is an icon for everyone and someone who we should honor with a national holiday.

Holt Baker says Chavez’s life and work won the support of millions to his cause for the right of farm workers to join a union and negotiate a contract without intimidation from employers. Today, she says, too many working people in this country don’t have the freedom to join unions and bargain collectively because the system is broken. So we need to remember and honor César Chávez while we continue the battle to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

FULL story at link.