    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 26, 1993]
    [Page 1185]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Conference Panel Discussion in Chicago
    July 26, 1993

        Once again, let me say how delighted I am to be here and to see all
    of you here and how pleased I am to see the Secretaries of Labor and
    Commerce working together. We're trying to build some teamworks in our
    Cabinet that have not historically been there. And I think that this is
    a good example.
        I understand that this morning's panels were quite interesting, and
    I got a play-by-play description for a few moments when we were taking a
    break in there. So far you have focused on what we mean by the new
    American workplace and the problems and barriers that companies and
    workers must struggle with in redesigning their organizations.
        I, frankly, am learning how hard this can be myself, because we have
    a very serious project underway now in the Federal Government in trying
    to reinvent the Federal Government. The project is headed by the Vice
    President. We have sought out the opinions of a number of people in this
    room that I recognize here today. But I think that next month--or,
    excuse me, in September--when we announce the report of the reinventing
    Government task force, you will be very pleased to see that we're trying
    to take another page out of your book to make the Government more
    efficient and to work better.
        Our responsibility, it seems to me, as I said in my speech, is to
    create the most favorable economic conditions. Sometimes that means
    reducing the deficit; sometimes it means specific incentives or
    programs; other times it means just getting out of your way and
    deregulating. The Government's relationship to the private sector are
    changing the nature of that relationship.
        There are challenges that are clearly unique to the workplace,
    outside the realm of Government, that you have to meet by yourselves but
    with our encouragement and without our interference. Those are the
    things we're going to focus on now. The purpose of this panel is to
    focus on why companies and public institutions are literally reinventing
    themselves organizationally by asking such questions as what benefits
    workers receive from new workplace organizations; why unions should
    support these practices; how companies' bottom lines are affected; and
    how moving to high-performance work can help improve our Nation's
    economic performance. We can begin to establish high-performance
    workplaces as the models, the rules, if you will, for our country's new
    economy.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:24 p.m. at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.