Hundreds of union members back push to make Juneteenth a Nassau public holiday

Hundreds of Nassau employees rallied outside County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office on Tuesday demanding he make Juneteenth a public holiday, repeating a plea that's been rejected in past years. 

Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and 19th, honors the end of slavery in the United States. It marks the day federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free about 250,000 enslaved people.

It is a federal and state holiday, and one that shutters almost all local government operations on Long Island except Nassau County buildings and services. Democrats have introduced bills to designate Juneteenth as a public holiday in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and this year, but the county’s Republican-majority legislature has repeatedly refused to schedule a vote.

"When Alabama can figure out how to honor Juneteenth but Nassau County still cannot, that just tells you how far behind we are," said Nassau Legis. Olena Nicks (D-Uniondale), a lieutenant in the Uniondale Fire Department who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and introduced this year’s bill.

A spokeswoman for Presiding Officer Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence) did not respond to questions about whether he would bring the bill for a vote this year.

When Nicks introduced the same bill last year, it was not scheduled on the legislative calendar. But, Nicks told Newsday, she believes  the union's backing this year will help.

"It's one thing when the administration believes that we're just putting this forward for political reasons ... it's another thing when the [union] membership that keeps this county running is also being very vocal and adamant," she said. 

It wasn't until last fall that Nassau's largest labor union, CSEA Local 830, demanded the day off, Kris Kalender, the union's president, told Newsday. It's now become a sticking point with the administration, who told the union they wouldn't make Juneteenth a holiday unless the union gave up another day.

"Every county except for one in the state has 13 paid holidays. We have 13 paid holidays here," Blakeman told reporters at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. "I said to the CSEA, 'If you want to swap out another holiday for Juneteenth, we're fine with it. It has nothing to do with Juneteenth.' ... If they want Juneteenth, give back another holiday."

For Nicks, the holiday goes beyond union negotiations. 

"Juneteenth should not be used as a bargaining chip, and Black history is not a union concession," she said.

Kalender told Newsday the union will not give up another holiday to get Juneteenth off.

"Employees are provided with personal days to celebrate events or holidays that are not recognized in the official holiday calendar. In order to add an additional paid holiday, this would need to be negotiated with the county's labor unions," Kopel wrote in a statement to Newsday.

Though President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, emancipation took years. June 19 has since become an annual celebration of Black history, culture and freedom. 

"I feel in my heart that this is the right thing to do," said Clive Cossou, 67, of Westbury. "Nassau County doesn’t recognize it because they’re thinking in terms of a monetary position, but it’s not about money."

Cossou has worked for the Nassau Board of Elections for 20 years testing ballot machines and getting voters registered, he said.

"This is a way of atonement for what was done to the people," he said.

Former President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021 and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill making it a state holiday in 2020.

It is a holiday in Suffolk County, New York City and parts of Nassau, including the towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay, and the cities of Long Beach and Glen Cove.

The parts of New York that don’t recognize Juneteenth "are mostly small, rural, upstate counties, places where you’re more likely to run into a cow than a crowd," Nicks said. "And then there is Nassau County, with nearly 1.4 million people and 200,000 Black residents. ... It’s not only embarrassing, it’s indefensible."