Proclamation 6801—Labor History Month, 1995

Among the most insistent themes in the history of American democracy has been the determination of our workers to find dignity in their work and meaning in their citizenship. The labor movement has long given voice to these aspirations. American trade unionists have fought for and achieved benefits for all of us by strengthening citizens' roles in the workplace and by expanding their participation in the political lives of their communities.

Gone is the time when the average American worker made about ten dollars for a 60-hour week, and more than 2 million children worked similarly long hours for even less pay. The national labor movement has helped ensure safe working conditions, regular hours, decent living wages, and paid holidays and vacations. And in 1993 we moved a step further, affording hard-working Americans the right to emergency family leave.

Workers have been leaders in the efforts to establish the 8-hour day, the 40-hour week, security in unemployment and old age, protection for the sick and injured and for children, equal employment opportunity, and health and safety standards. And the labor movement has strived to make public education available for every child. American workers have helped to make this progress possible, and our country is immeasurably stronger because of it.

As we observe Labor History Month this year, we understand that our work is not yet finished. Today's global marketplace demands that we establish and strengthen partnerships between employers and unions, cooperate to achieve safe, high-performance work environments, improve the skills of American workers and the competitiveness of American businesses, and further enhance human dignity in the workplace. The challenges we face are many, but the history of our accomplishments assures us that the future looks bright indeed.

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 1995, as "Labor History Month." I call upon the people of the United States to observe this period with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and nineteenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON