Although it is not a federal holiday, President Barack Obama proclaimed today (Thursday, March 31) as Cesar Chavez Day in the United States.
Those observing the holiday are encouraged to observe the day in the tradition of the labor leader’s work to provide community service.
While some work places observed the holiday last Friday or on Monday, the holiday marks the day of his birth, March 31, 1927.
Chavez, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers died in 1993. Some state government offices, community colleges libraries and public schools are closed.
At the recent Cesar Chavez March for Justice held in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, Paul Chavez, the son of the civil rights activist, encouraged people to vote in the November election. He told those who attended the gathering at Ritchie Valens Park in Pacoima that it was critical for people to counter the rhetoric of Donald Trump at the ballot box.
State Secretary of State Alex Padilla stressed the need to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour.
Guillermo Garcia, a farmworker from Oxnard, pointed out the farm workers are not covered by regulations requiring employers pay time and a half for working over 8 hours a day. He called for passage of AB 2757 which calls for farm workers to be paid overtime on the same basis as all other workers.
Congressmember Tony Cardenas who noted his father was a farmworker described Chavez as a man “who changed the world.”