[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 173 (Thursday, September 8, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 54857-54858]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19531]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2022 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 54857]]
Proclamation 10439 of September 2, 2022
Labor Day, 2022
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
American workers have built our communities, laid the
foundation for our democracy, and powered the engine of
our prosperity. From the factory hands who forged an
Arsenal of Democracy and helped beat back fascism
during World War II, to the immigrants who assembled
the transcontinental railroad that connected America's
coasts, to the health care professionals and first
responders who mobilized selflessly during the pandemic
to save countless lives, American workers have guided
us through our most difficult moments and delivered
some of our Nation's greatest triumphs.
Unions have been the voice of American workers, guiding
their path to power as a major force in our society.
Unions fought for higher wages and family-supporting
benefits, established vital health and safety
standards, secured an 8-hour work day, eradicated child
labor, guarded against discrimination and harassment,
and bargained for every worker's fair share of economic
prosperity. They give workers a say in critical
decisions affecting their lives and livelihoods and
play a transformative role in shaping the future of our
democracy. The middle class built America, and unions
built the middle class. When organized labor wins,
families win. We all win.
I said from the start that I would be the most pro-
worker and pro-union President in American history, and
I am keeping that promise. When I took office, I put
money in the pockets of hardworking Americans with the
American Rescue Plan, offering families much-needed
breathing room. I have now enacted a bold, long-term
economic agenda that will lead to historic investments
in our Nation and our workers: the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the
Inflation Reduction Act. My economic agenda is a once-
in-a-generation blueprint to rebuild America,
outcompete every other economy in the world, and create
thousands of good-paying and clean-manufacturing jobs.
We are putting plumbers, pipefitters, electrical
workers, steel workers, and so many others to work on a
range of projects--from rebuilding our infrastructure
to manufacturing semiconductors, electric vehicles,
wind turbines, and solar panels. Many of these jobs
will be union jobs.
This is just the beginning. To give workers more power
and raise wages, I signed an Executive Order calling
for a ban on unfair non-compete agreements that hinder
people from building on their experience to take new
jobs in their industries. I created a White House Task
Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment with the aim
of identifying new ways the executive branch can
facilitate the organizing of workers. I also appointed
a former union president and card-carrying union member
to serve this country as the Secretary of Labor.
Still, there is more we can do. I believe every worker
should have a free and fair choice to organize and
bargain collectively with their employer without
coercion or intimidation. That is why I called on the
Congress to finally pass the Richard L. Trumka
Protecting the Right to Organize Act and the Public
Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which will make it
easier for private-sector, State, and local government
workers to join a union and bargain collectively.
[[Page 54858]]
As our economy recovers and rebuilds, we must build it
from the bottom up and the middle out--not the top
down--so everyone benefits. Our Nation continues to
fall short of its promise to deliver equal opportunity
to workers of color and women, among others, and we can
do more to ensure that good-paying jobs are accessible
to everyone. Only when all workers have a strong voice
in their wages, benefits, and job treatment can we
start to change how we value their labor. Only then can
we begin to reward work and not just wealth.
I have had the honor of meeting workers of every
stripe. I have visited longshore workers in California,
firefighters in Colorado, transit workers in New
Jersey, welders in Wisconsin, and teachers in Virginia,
among many others. I also welcomed frontline worker-
organizers into the Oval Office. Whenever I meet
members of America's labor community--dedicated women
and men who derive purpose from their work--I am
reminded of something my father used to tell me: ``A
job is about more than a paycheck--it is about dignity
and respect.''
This Labor Day, let us honor those trailblazers who
have fought for the rights of working people. Let us
stand in solidarity with all workers and strengthen
their ability to organize and bargain with employers.
Let us give thanks to all of America's workers who
build this Nation and pave our future.
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 September 5,
2022, as Labor Day. I call upon all public officials
and people of the United States to observe this day
with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities
that honor the energy and innovation of working
Americans.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
second day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2022-19531
Filed 9-7-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P