Los Angeles -- In a stifling hot plaza decked with the black eagle flags of the United Farm Workers, Gov. Gray Davis officially established a state holiday to honor Cesar Chavez, the late Latino labor leader.

``Cesar Chavez brought hope and inspiration to tens of thousands of farmworkers, some of the hardest- working people on the face of the Earth,'' Davis said. ``He taught us that injustice anywhere affects all of us everywhere.''

The new holiday will be on March 31, the day Chavez was born in 1927. State Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, has been working on the bill for three years, but former Gov. Pete Wilson was unwilling to sign it.

``What a difference a governor makes,'' Polanco said yesterday. ``Cesar was a symbol of hope to workers. He provided a voice for the voiceless and leadership for those who had the will but were unsure of the way.''
More than 400 people crowded into the Paseo de la Plaza, near where the city of Los Angeles was established in 1781. The crowd, which included children from schools named after Chavez in the area, held up signs, waved flags and shouted ``Viva Cesar!'' and ``Si se puedes,'' the slogan of the United Farm Workers Union, which he helped found.

Chavez was working in the apricot orchards outside San Jose in 1952 when he became involved in community organizing. Ten years later, he founded a union with a goal of improving the lot of California farm workers. He was still doing that work when he died in 1993. More than 40,000 people marched behind his coffin at his funeral service in the Central Valley farm town of Delano.

The stage behind Davis was crammed with politicians and labor leaders from across the state, each anxious to join in singing the praises of a man who never earned more than $6,000 a year and who never owned a house.

Chavez is the first union leader in U.S. history to be celebrated with a paid holiday, said John Sweeney, national president of the 14 million- member AFL-CIO.

``This sends a powerful message that every worker is valued and each can fight for his dream,'' he said.

While state workers will receive a paid holiday, California schoolchildren will have some work to do. The bill calls for students to take an hour on the morning of the holiday learning about Chavez and his legacy of nonviolence and social justice and then spend the afternoon in some form of social service.

``This is a historic day,'' said Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. ``We honor a man who dedicated his life to improving the lives of the people who pick the food that we eat.''