Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring October 25, 2024, as “Larry Itliong Day” in the State of California.

PROCLAMATION

During Filipino-American Heritage Month, California celebrates the trailblazing labor leader and civil rights champion Larry Itliong. Born on this day in 1913 in a province of the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States as a teenager, where he soon began his life’s work of empowering others.

As a laborer in the fisheries and canneries of Alaska, Itliong helped found the Alaska Cannery Workers Union to secure better working conditions, including an eight-hour workday with overtime. Itliong went on to serve in World War II and later settled in Stockton, where he continued his organizing efforts. There, Itliong helped launch the asparagus strike of 1948 – the first major agricultural strike after World War II – and in 1956, he founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton. Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and other leaders also helped create the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. 

Emerging as a leader in the watershed farm labor movement, Itliong allied with grape workers in the Coachella Valley in their fight for better wages. In 1965, Itliong and fellow Manongs – respected elders in the Filipino-American community – moved to organize against exploitative grape growers in Delano. Shortly after, the Manongs joined forces with César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and the National Farmworkers Association, beginning a nationwide boycott of grapes that led to the first farmworker union contracts. 

Recognizing his incredible impact on our state and advocacy for those without a voice, I had the honor of inducting Mr. Itliong into the California Hall of Fame in 2021. Today, on the 111th anniversary of his birth, we honor the immense contributions of Larry Itliong and the Manongs whose hard-fought battles helped advance farmworkers’ rights and social justice in California and beyond. Let us remember their message of “Isang Bagsak!” – we are all connected together in our fight for justice, and we rise and fall together. 

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim October 25, 2024, as “Larry Itliong Day.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 24th day of October 2024.

GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

ATTEST:

SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State