Skip to main content

Nevada AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Celebrates Labor Day 2021

Shelbie Swartz
Social share icons

Las Vegas, Nev. — Today, the Nevada State AFL-CIO’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer Susie Martinez marked Labor Day 2021 with the following statement:

“Every year, our movement is honored and recognized on Labor Day, the first Monday in September. For many, this day is a day of leisure, but it must also be a day to remember the power and purpose of working people united in unions. On this day, we reflect on what it means to be a part of the labor movement, honor the sacrifices of those who came before us, and look to the future and all that we are yet to accomplish. 

Here in Nevada, we have accomplished so much that we can be proud of on this day. We’ve championed legislation that protects our brothers and sisters on the job and allows them to return to their positions when business resumes from COVID-19. We’ve fought to elect leaders who advocate for working people and our families. We’ve organized workplaces and brought more Nevadans into our movement. 

At the national level, Marty Walsh leads the Department of Labor, the first union member to head the organization in 45 years. President Joe Biden has time and again affirmed his support for the labor movement and unions across the country.

We have the PRO Act awaiting a vote in the Senate, with both of our Senators from Nevada co-sponsoring the legislation. The future is bright for our nationwide movement if we continue on this trajectory.

While today we take stock in how much we’ve accomplished in the past, tomorrow we get back to the fight to create a better future for our working brothers and sisters.”

The Labor Day holiday was first celebrated in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. Following the deaths of 13 workers during the Pullman Strike in June of 1894, President Grover Cleveland made Labor Day a federal holiday that year.