Sacramento, California - Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring September 7, 2020, as Labor Day in the State of California.

PROCLAMATION

In these extraordinary times, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to the workers who are sustaining us. Every day, millions of Californians leave home and venture out into an uncertain world, to do the work that others depend on, at great risk to themselves and their families. The working Californians who harvest our crops, respond to our emergencies, heal our loved ones and care for our children are keeping our state running during this pandemic. On Labor Day, we honor them and thank them.

This Labor Day is not like those in years past, and not simply because we forego the customary picnics and parades in order to keep one another safe from COVID-19. Millions of working Californians continue to feed, support and strengthen our state amid a deadly and invisible global pandemic. Today we honor the workers who shoulder a heavy burden from this disease. We hold them and their families in our hearts, and we redouble our commitment to protect their work and workplace safety.

It is in honor of their sacrifices and in the hope for a brighter, more equal future that my Administration continues to advance safeguards for California’s outstanding workforce. We have taken action to expand paid sick leave to food sector workers, create temporary housing options for health care workers and agricultural workers to isolate and quarantine, support child care access for working parents and create detailed workplace safety and health guidance. We have built a pipeline of personal protective equipment to help workers stay safe on the job and expanded testing for the workforce. In partnership with the Legislature, we will continue to advance new initiatives to support these workers and their employers.

This work is just the beginning. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare inequities in our society that we ignore at our own peril. This Labor Day, we draw strength from the working people in our past and present who fought tirelessly for their rights and the promise that, in America, you can make it if you work hard and play by the rules. We must never forget that the labor movement brought us the 40-hour workweek and the weekend, the minimum wage and the middle class. Unions remind us that we rise and fall together.

Today we pledge to continue our efforts to protect our workers, create good jobs, to make the jobs we have better and to make those jobs available to all. That is how we truly honor all hardworking Californians and their families. ​

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 7, 2020, as Labor Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 4th day of September 2020.

GAVIN NEWSOM

Governor of California

ATTEST:

ALEX PADILLA

Secretary of State