Nassau County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is refusing to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday for more than 4,200 county workers—unless the union agrees to surrender another holiday in exchange.
On Friday, as the rest of Long Island observes the federal and state holiday, Nassau County government buildings will be open.
“Not everything has to be a negotiation,” Kris Kalender, president of CSEA Local 830, told Courier New York. “If you value something enough, then you should honor what the day means.”
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when news of emancipation reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It became a New York State holiday in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021. Suffolk County and every town and city within Nassau County observe it—but Nassau County itself does not.
Nassau County is widely cited as the only county in New York State that does not recognize Juneteenth as a paid public holiday for its employees.
Blakeman, a Republican running for governor with the backing of President Donald Trump, has blocked giving time off for the holiday for the fourth time. His position: Nassau County already has 13 paid holidays and cannot afford a 14th.
“I told them, ‘I will give you Juneteenth, you give me another holiday back,’” Blakeman told reporters at a June 9 rally outside the Nassau County Legislative and Executive Building. “That’s the fiscally prudent thing to do.”
In a statement, Blakeman said: “The evil of slavery is something we should never forget, and the emancipation started a journey for racial equality that we are still traveling. The designation of holidays is part of collective bargaining and I have maintained that if the union wants to swap out another holiday for Juneteenth, I would be amenable to that.”
CSEA Local 830, which represents Nassau County workers ranging from paramedics and 911 operators to public works employees and social services staff, isn’t taking the deal. “Our members have conceded enough,” CSEA Long Island Region President Jarvis Brown told 1010 WINS.
“I am adamantly refusing to give him another day,” Kalender told Courier New York. “You’re not honoring the significance at that point. At that point, you’re using it as a bargaining chip.”
Hundreds of union workers, civil rights advocates, clergy members and elected officials turned out for a June 9 rally in Mineola, organized by County Legislator Olena Nicks. “Nassau County cannot keep celebrating Juneteenth in words without recognizing it in policy,” Nicks told the Long Island Herald.
“Do the right thing, Mr. Blakeman. Do the right thing,” Barbara Powell, president of the NAACP Hempstead Branch, said at the rally.
The Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature, where the GOP holds an 11-8 majority, has blocked Democrats’ efforts to establish Juneteenth as a paid public holiday each time the legislation has been introduced—in 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2026.
The New York State Black Legislative Task Force condemned Blakeman’s position Wednesday. “Bruce Blakeman’s refusal to recognize the Juneteenth holiday is a slap in the face to the Black New Yorkers who have kept our state and our country running for generations,” the task force said in a statement. “Juneteenth isn’t a Democratic or Republican holiday, it’s an American holiday.”
Blakeman’s office did not respond to Courier New York’s request for comment.
