Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 172 / Thursday, September 9, 2021 / Presidential Documents 50437 

Proclamation 10250 of September 3, 2021 

Labor Day, 2021 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

My father taught me from a young age that a job is about much more 

than a paycheck. It is about dignity, respect, and your place in the community. It is about being able to look your children in the eye and assure 

them that things are going to be okay. When Americans go to work each 

day, they are not just making a living—they are pursuing a life with hope 

for the future. In doing so, they build, drive, care for, and grow our Nation. 

Hard-working Americans are the backbone of our country. As I have often 

said, the middle class built America—and unions built the middle class. 

Everything that supports a sustainable middle-class life was made possible 

by unions, and on Labor Day we honor all those workers—and their enduring 

movement—that keep our economy moving and make our Nation strong. 

I believe that every worker deserves not only a fair wage and benefits— 

but freedom from discrimination, a safe and healthy workplace, and the 

respect that comes with a secure retirement as well. That is why my Administration always stands proudly with workers. It is why, in the American 

Rescue Plan, we gave working people a break—helping workers weather 

the pandemic, giving middle-class families raising children a historic tax 

cut, and upholding the promise of a dignified retirement by protecting 

the hard-earned pensions of millions of American workers and retirees. 

It is also why I am committed to ensuring that all workers have a free 

and fair opportunity to organize a union and bargain collectively with their 

employers. This has been a guiding principle of our Nation since union 

organizing was explicitly encouraged by the National Labor Relations Act 

in 1935. But for far too long, that principle has been attacked and neglected. 

American workers should make their own decisions—free from coercion 

and intimidation—about organizing with their co-workers to have a stronger 

voice in their workplaces, their communities, and their government. That 

is why I strongly support the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and 

the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act. It is also why I created the 

Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, and asked Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh to serve as its 

chair and vice chair. 

After more than a year in which essential workers made extraordinary sacrifices and carried our Nation on their backs, this Labor Day we see more 

clearly than ever that we must build an economy that responds to the 

needs and aspirations of working people—an economy that deals everyone 

in and brings everyone along. The pandemic has also exacerbated and revealed for all to see the places where our Nation has fallen short of its 

promise to deliver equal opportunity to workers of color and their communities. To help address that long-standing challenge, my Administration 

is pursuing a comprehensive approach to advancing equity, as illustrated 

in the Executive Order I signed on my first day in office entitled Advancing 

Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities. 

Despite the tremendous progress we have made to advance labor protections 

and strengthen the voice of workers in the workplace, there is still much 

more we need to do. As in every generation since Labor Day was first 


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50438 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 172 / Thursday, September 9, 2021 / Presidential Documents 

celebrated in the late 19th century, there are still those who resist Americans’ 

efforts to build and sustain worker power—the engine of our economic 

growth, the key to our long-term success, and the best defense against 

corporate abuses of power in workplaces, our economy, and our democracy. 

Over the years, the Labor Movement has won many battles: establishing 

the 40-hour work week, integrating workplaces, eliminating child labor, 

securing health and safety protections for workers, and countless other victories. Workers and their unions prevailed time and time again—but the 

work continues. We are going to keep fighting to restore power to working 

families and protect the rights of hard-working Americans and unions. That 

includes seizing the golden opportunity ahead of us to make the largest 

investment in nearly a century in American infrastructure, American workers, 

and good union jobs through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and 

Jobs Act. 

On this Labor Day, we honor the pioneers who stood up for the dignity 

of working people—leaders like Ce ́sar Cha ́vez, the Reverend Dr. Martin 

Luther King, Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, John L. Lewis, Samuel Gompers, 

Frances Perkins, and many more. Let us also remember the tireless voices 

for working families that we have recently lost, including my friend Richard 

Trumka. We must recommit ourselves to advancing the historic progress 

these trailblazers made as we work to deliver a decent life with security, 

respect, and dignity for all. 

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 6, 2021, 

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 third day of 

September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the 

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortysixth. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19576 

Filed 9–8–21; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3295–F1–P 


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