STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO ON LABOR DAY
"This Labor Day, as we honor the legacy of the movement that gave us the weekend, overtime pay, and safe workplaces, let us recommit ourselves to the fight for dignity, fairness, and opportunity for every worker."
- Andrew Cuomo
“Labor Day is more than a holiday," said Governor Cuomo. "It is a reminder of the sacrifices and achievements of working men and women who built this nation, fought for fairness in the workplace, and created the American middle class. Working people are the backbone of this country and the heartbeat of New York.
For decades, I have proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with organized labor, not just with words, but with action. As Governor, I worked night and day to advance policies that strengthened the labor movement and protected workers’ rights. We raised New York’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, making New York the first state in the nation to establish the standard and helping to lift countless families into economic security, enacted the nation's strongest paid family leave law so no New Yorker would have to choose between keeping their job and caring for their loved ones, and expanded prevailing wage requirements to ensure that public projects pay fair wages. And following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision, I signed an executive order to protect union members from anti‑union intimidation efforts.
I worked hand-in-hand with unions to defend collective bargaining rights and to invest in infrastructure projects that created thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we proudly made New York the most pro-labor state in the nation by protecting workers against wage theft, misclassification, and unsafe working conditions.
This Labor Day, as we honor the legacy of the movement that gave us the weekend, overtime pay, and safe workplaces, let us recommit ourselves to the fight for dignity, fairness, and opportunity for every worker. The labor movement built the middle class, and it remains the path to a stronger, fairer New York City and nation.
I will always stand with labor, today and every day.”
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