[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 20419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11505]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 89 / Tuesday, May 7, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 20419]]

                Proclamation 6891 May 3, 1996

                
Labor History Month, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                In the early 1900s, millions of Americans left their 
                farms to begin new lives as factory workers. Sadly, 
                many of these citizens found neither secure employment 
                nor higher wages at their new jobs, and the industrial 
                economy brought them exploitation, continued poverty, 
                and the risk of injury and death. No student of 
                American history can forget the images of filthy 
                children emerging from mills and mines, the stories of 
                terrible fires and explosions, or the grim legacy of 
                the slums that grew up in factory towns.

                Although child labor, sweatshops, and workplace 
                disasters are largely horrors of the past, efforts to 
                eliminate them began to succeed only after workers 
                organized and spoke with a united, independent voice. 
                The American labor movement helped the first generation 
                of industrial employees to express their aspirations 
                and insecurities, empowering them with the necessary 
                tools to define the terms and conditions of their 
                employment and to expand the role of labor in the 
                larger society.

                As we approach the 21st century, our Nation's economy 
                is undergoing a transformation as momentous as the 
                change that spurred the exodus from farms to factories 
                100 years ago. And in facing the challenges posed by 
                global competition and rapid technological advances, 
                the workers of the Information Age need the same 
                effective leadership that allowed their forbears to 
                succeed. Each new generation of workers must embrace 
                the activism that has characterized labor's rich 
                history, and all Americans should recognize the role 
                that labor has played in the continuing progress of our 
                democracy.

                 NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of 
                the United States, do hereby proclaim May 1996, as 
                Labor History Month. I call upon Government officials, 
                educators, the media, and all the people of the United 
                States to observe this month with ceremonies, 
                activities, and programs that encourage reflection on 
                the labor movement's heritage and its many 
                contributions to the creation and maintenance of a just 
                America.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                third day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-11505
Filed 5-6-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P