[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 34949-34951]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09552]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 1, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 34949]]


                Proclamation 10734 of April 26, 2024

                
Workers Memorial Day, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                A job is about more than a paycheck--it is about 
                dignity and respect. Our Nation's workers built this 
                country, and we need to have their backs. On the most 
                basic level, that means every worker in this Nation 
                deserves to be safe on the job. Too many still risk 
                their lives or well-being in unsafe work conditions or 
                dangerous roles. On Workers Memorial Day, we honor our 
                fallen and injured workers and recommit to making sure 
                every worker has the peace of mind of knowing that they 
                are protected at work and can return home safe to their 
                families every night.

                I am proud to be the most pro-labor President in 
                history, and from day one, my Administration has fought 
                to make workplaces safer and fairer. Our American 
                Rescue Plan invested $200 million into keeping workers 
                safe during the pandemic and guaranteeing that workers 
                had sick leave available if they got COVID-19. We also 
                used the full power of the Defense Production Act to 
                deliver personal protective equipment to workers who 
                needed it. We vaccinated 230 million Americans so they 
                could return to offices, stores, factory floors, and 
                more without worrying about their health.

                Strong unions are at the core of all of this work. 
                Every major law that protects workers' safety passed 
                because unions fought for it. That is why, as my 
                Administration makes the biggest investment in our 
                Nation's infrastructure in generations, we are also 
                incentivizing companies to hire union workers, pay 
                prevailing wages, and support pre-apprenticeships and 
                Registered Apprenticeships that help workers learn how 
                to safely do the job. At the same time, my 
                Administration finalized a rule requiring Project Labor 
                Agreements for most large-scale Federal construction 
                projects, helping ensure these projects are completed 
                safely, efficiently, and on time.

                I am proud of my work standing up for unions, from 
                being the first sitting President to walk a picket line 
                to nominating union advocates to the National Labor 
                Relations Board, which has helped protect the right to 
                organize. I also signed Executive Orders restoring and 
                expanding collective bargaining rights for the Federal 
                workforce, and I re-established labor-management forums 
                at Federal agencies to ensure Federal workers on the 
                job are heard. I signed the Butch Lewis Act, protecting 
                the pensions that millions of Americans worked their 
                whole lives for. I have expanded coverage through the 
                Affordable Care Act and slashed prescription drug 
                prices, making health care more affordable for millions 
                of working families.

                At the same time, the Department of Labor has also made 
                it easier for whistleblowers to report unsafe working 
                conditions, regardless of their immigration status, and 
                are hiring and training hundreds of workplace 
                inspectors to ensure employers are meeting health and 
                safety requirements. Last year, my Administration 
                issued the first-ever heat Hazard Alert to protect 
                millions of farm, construction, and other workers who 
                spend their days outside in increasingly extreme heat. 
                We also finalized a new rule to limit miners' exposure 
                to toxic silica dust--protecting more than 250,000 from 
                its harmful effects. The Department of Labor has also 
                ramped up the enforcement of heat-safety rules, 
                conducting more than 4,000 heat inspections in the past 
                2 years. They have also completed over 65,000 workplace 
                safety and health

[[Page 34950]]

                inspections since 2022, helping keep workers in high-
                risk industries safe. Further, my Administration 
                published a rule that allows workers to choose a 
                representative to accompany an Occupational Safety and 
                Health Administration official during a workplace 
                inspection, ensuring workers are being heard. The 
                Department of Labor is working to develop a national 
                standard to protect indoor and outdoor workers from 
                extreme heat that can be hazardous to their health.

                We are also fighting for the courageous first 
                responders who routinely run toward danger to protect 
                the rest of us. The Department of Labor proposed a rule 
                that would strengthen safety standards for emergency 
                responder equipment, training, and vehicle operations 
                for the first time in more than 40 years. These new 
                standards would transform many current industry best 
                practices to requirements and could prevent thousands 
                of injuries for more than one million brave first 
                responders across the country. I was also proud to sign 
                the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, which boosted 
                pay for over 10,000 Federal firefighters to help 
                recruit more to the job, because I know that nothing 
                keeps firefighters safe like more firefighters. We are 
                also committed to protecting firefighters from the 
                harmful effects of toxic ``forever chemicals'', which 
                are still too often found in firefighting equipment and 
                fire suppression agents. I signed legislation extending 
                the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program to 
                firefighters who are permanently disabled and to 
                families of firefighters who die after experiencing 
                trauma like PTSD--it will not bring their loved ones 
                back, but we owe them.

                Today, our Nation is in the midst of a great comeback. 
                Our economy is growing, wages are rising, and inflation 
                is down. We have created a record 15 million jobs. On 
                Workers Memorial Day, we recommit to making sure that 
                every worker in this country is safe on the job. We 
                honor those who lost their lives or have been injured 
                on the job; we stand by their families; and we stand 
                with the labor unions that are fighting to guarantee 
                every worker safety, dignity, and respect.

                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 April 28, 
                2024, as Workers Memorial Day. I call upon all 
                Americans to observe this day with appropriate service, 
                community, and education programs and ceremonies in 
                memory of those killed or injured due to unsafe working 
                conditions.

[[Page 34951]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                eighth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-09552
Filed 4-30-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P