California Senate Approves Farmworkers Day as Official Holiday

On Thursday the California State Senate unanimously approved a bill to institute Farmworkers Day as a new statewide holiday. Farmworkers Day will be now celebrated on March 31 each year and will replace César Chávez Day, as state leaders work to change the focus of the annual holiday in light of recent accusations of sexual abuse against Chávez.

During Thursday’s senate hearing, State Senate Leader Monique Limón introduced the bill and said that state lawmakers would be working to ensure that the entire farmworker community would be celebrated for contributions to the state’s cultural and economic history.

“From the start of the movement, the work to protect and advance farmworker rights was centered on community,” Limón said. “From the migrant workers who traveled hundreds of miles, season to season, to pick the food that we eat to the children who moved with their parents as they worked hard to make ends meet, the farmworker movement is about the thousands of women and men whose hard work not only feeds our nation but creates lasting change.” 

Senate President pro Tempore Limón and several senate colleagues shared their support for the women who broke decades of silence to speak out about their experiences. Limón said that this information coming to light can serve as an opportunity to refocus how the state celebrates the farmworkers’ labor movement. 

Limón said that farmworkers often work long hours in extreme conditions, making meager pay and risking exposure to poisonous chemicals without much recourse to enforce labor rights or challenge exploitation, intimidation, and wage theft. She credited the farmworker movement for making great strides toward better conditions after “years of organizing hundreds of strikes and boycotts,” but pointed out that there are still recent examples of farmworkers being targeted in immigration raids throughout the state.

“Just last year, we saw the federal government carry out one of the largest raids against farmworkers in California state history, right in my district,” Limón said. “The same people that we are honoring today have been repeatedly demonized and targeted.”

She urged her colleagues to vote in support of the bill to stand in solidarity with farmworkers, and specifically with the women who were willing to speak up against sexual abuse.

“Our farmworkers remind us that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Limón said. “Farmworkers Day is a recognition of a movement that has fed this nation, whose hard work and dedication to agriculture drives our state economy.”

The bill received unanimous support from the senate, with several senators sharing brief comments before the vote. Senator Lena Gonzalez, chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, said this holiday change would be a time for California residents to honor the hard work and dedication of laborers who work day in and day out to provide fresh food.

“While the circumstances that brought us here are extremely tragic,” Senator Gonzalez said. “We reflect and uplift survivors and ensure we are advancing an important message.”

The motion carried in a 37-0 vote with no objections from the senate floor. California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill, and it would take effect immediately. The previous bill marking March 31 as César Chávez Day has been ordered inactive at the request of Senator Alex Padilla.