State Offices Closed Monday for César Chávez Day, But City, Schools, County Are Open

State offices will be closed Monday for César Chávez Day, but City of Pasadena, Pasadena Unified School District campuses and Los Angeles County offices will be open.

The City doesn’t officially take off the holiday. PUSD was closed Friday, and the County took the day off last Monday.

Los Angeles Superior Court courtrooms will be closed Monday, as well as state offices such as the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Banks, Metrolink trains and trash pickup will follow regular schedules.

There will be mail delivery because César Chávez Day is a federal commemorative holiday, first proclaimed by then-President Barack Obama in 2014, and not a federal holiday.

Then-Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation in 2000 making the March 31 anniversary of Chávez’s birth in 1927 a state holiday. When March 31 falls on a Sunday, as it does this year, the holiday is observed on the following Monday.

Chávez is credited with improving work and quality of life conditions for immigrant farm workers in Central California. Alongside Dolores Huerta he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers Union.

A strike by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-sponsored labor organization, against table grape growers in the Kern County city about 30 miles north of Bakersfield began on Sept. 8, 1965.

The predominantly Mexican National Farmworkers Association joined the strike eight days later. The two groups merged in August 1966 to create the United Farm Workers.

“As César Chávez’s 97th birthday approaches, may we reflect on his legacy and the values he modeled,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement. Barger represents Pasadena.

“He is an American hero that stood tall and was the first to fight for labor and civil rights of farm workers.

“He was a humble yet inspiring leader that created a remarkable coalition focused on achieving respect, fair wages, and humane living conditions.”

Barger also said she continues “to be inspired by César Chávez’s extraordinary humanitarian work and approach to public service. He led by example, with courage and moral conviction. Chavez’s achievements and legacy have cemented his place in our country’s history and will never be forgotten.”

President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Friday proclaiming Sunday as César Chávez Day and calling “upon all Americans to observe this day as a day of service and learning with appropriate service, community, and education programs to honor César E. Chávez’s enduring legacy.”

“On this day, we recognize that César Chávez and his fellow farm workers made progress that can never be taken back,” Biden said in the proclamation. “They fought for a sacred cause that continues to beat in the hearts of the American people:  Every worker — no matter who they are, where they are from, or what they do — deserves dignity and respect.”

On his first day in office, Biden placed a bronze statue of Chávez, supplied by his children, in the Oval Office.

The 31st annual Cesar E. Chávez Day Celebration and The March For Justice were in the Northeast San Fernando Valley March 17 with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, as the keynote speaker.