    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [June 12, 1995]
    [Pages 871-875]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the United Auto Workers Convention
    June 12, 1995

        Thank you very much. Thank you, Owen, for that fine introduction,
    and thank you for your leadership over the years. I want to congratulate
    you and the other officers who are retiring. I want to say a special
    word of hello to all the brothers and sisters of the United Auto Workers
    throughout the country, especially those from my home State of Arkansas
    with whom I've worked over the years.
        I'd like to say a word also to Dennis Fitting, the president of
    Local 455 out of Saginaw, who was with me last Friday at the White House
    for a reunion of a group of exceptional Americans whom I met along the
    campaign trail in 1992. We call this group the Faces of Hope, and I want
    to thank Dennis for being a member of the group and for his commitment
    to our efforts to move America forward.
        All of you know better than anybody that Owen Bieber has dedicated
    his entire life to improving the lives of working families. He took over
    the UAW 12 years ago, during one of the toughest periods in your entire
    history. In all of the years, he has never wavered, even in the face of
    administrations here in Washington that were sure less than friendly.
    He's always stood strong not only for UAW workers and their families and
    their incomes and their future but for the kind of broad social progress
    that has been the hallmark of the UAW since its beginning in the 1930's.
    Whether it was in the fight for civil rights or the fight to end
    apartheid in South Africa, your solidarity with the American farm
    workers, the UAW has always been there for others as well as for your
    own interests.
        Owen Bieber has truly carried on the legacy of Walter Reuther. And
    moreover, in a very difficult period in our country's history, he has
    set the stage for even greater strength for you in the 21st century. We
    all owe him our deepest gratitude and our best wishes. And I feel
    especially indebted to him for his advice, his counsel, and his
    ferocious support. Thank you very much, Owen. We all wish you well and
    Godspeed.
        Now, I know you haven't elected your new officers yet, but I wanted
    to say that I personally would feel a whole lot better about my campaign
    if we could go into 1996 with poll numbers looking like Steve Yokich's
    do right now for you.
        One of the most memorable moments in my 1992 campaign, and I had a
    lot of memorable moments with the UAW, but one of the most memorable was
    the opportunity I had to walk the picket line with Owen and the striking
    workers of Caterpillar in Peoria. I looked into the tired but determined
    faces of men and women on that picket line, and I realized how much was
    at stake for them and for all the rest of us as well.
        I ran for President because I believed we had to do more to help
    those workers and millions of Americans just like them who had seen
    their stake in the American dream uprooted during the 1980's, people who
    were being aban-

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    doned by Washington, people who were working harder and harder for less
    and less. Their struggle showed me better than any report or any poll
    that the fight to save the American dream and the fight to save American
    families must begin with the fight to save America's workers and their
    incomes and their jobs. Of course, the struggle at Caterpillar is still
    not over, but my administration continues to walk the line with you, and
    we'll stay there.
        I came to Washington to work with you and with all other Americans
    to turn these disturbing economic trends around. I wanted to shrink the
    under class and to grow the middle class. I wanted to rebuild a sense of
    hope and community. I wanted to help people to make the most of their
    own lives. I wanted to reward the values that have kept this country
    strong, the values of work and family and community. And so I've worked
    hard to develop an economic strategy that focuses on both creating jobs
    and raising incomes. And I've focused on a social strategy that would,
    instead of just talking about family values or work, would actually
    reward work and family and responsible parenting and good citizenship.
    And it's beginning to work.
        In the past 2\1/2\ years, our economic strategy has added almost 7
    million new jobs to our economy, and nearly all of them have been in the
    private sector. We're cutting the deficit by a trillion over 7 years,
    reducing it for 3 years in a row for the first time since Harry Truman
    was President. But we have been able to invest more in the education and
    training of our people and in the promotion of our children and
    strengthening our families.
        We've been able to give a tax cut to 15 million working families
    through the earned-income tax credit. What that means in simple terms is
    that this year working families with two children with an income of
    under $28,000 will have a tax break of about $1,000.
        We want to make it so that every family who works for a living will
    not live in poverty. We want parents who are willing to work full-time
    to be good parents and good workers at the same time. That's also why I
    worked so hard and you worked so hard for the passage of the Family and
    Medical Leave Act. It will make a real difference to working families in
    this country.
        As you know, we're having a big debate now in Washington over
    balancing the budget. As I have said many times, I want to balance the
    budget. It will help you if we do. It will lower interest rates. It will
    free up money to invest in the private sector and new jobs. It will mean
    that we can spend more of your tax money on things like the education of
    our children and less paying interest on the debt.
        But we cannot balance the budget by giving a huge and untargeted tax
    cut that benefits mostly very wealthy people and paying for it by
    excessive cuts in the Medicare program. We can't do it by walking away
    from the fact that we have not only a budget deficit but an education
    investment. You know as well as anyone, from the increases in
    productivity the UAW has achieved in the last several years, that we
    have to have constant education and training if we're going to guarantee
    our young people the incomes and the security they need.
        So I say, we all know that the countries that do the best job of
    educating all their people will be the real winners in the global
    economy. No one understands this more than you. You have led the way
    with your apprenticeship programs and your training programs. You have
    worked and worked and worked to support the kind of lifelong learning
    agenda that is central to my efforts to revitalize the American middle
    class.
        And that's why, even though I agree we should balance the budget, we
    don't have to be targeted into an arbitrary timetable, funding excessive
    tax cuts to people who are doing well and don't need it, and having
    excessive cuts either in Medicare for our elderly or in the investments
    that make our country strong.
        I'm fighting to preserve our investments, like the direct student
    loan initiative, which lowers the cost of college loans to your
    children, eases their repayment terms, and makes it possible for more of
    our young people to go and to stay in college; our innovative school-to-
    work apprenticeship efforts, which involves partnerships with unions and
    community colleges and employers all over the country; our successful
    national service initiative, AmeriCorps, which gives 20,000 young people
    college scholarship funds in return for community service work in their
    local community, helping people to help themselves.
        We can't afford not to support something as important to our future
    as the education and training of all of our people. That's why I am also
    supporting a new ``GI bill'' for America's workers, to collapse about 70
    smaller Govern-

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    ment training programs into one big block and to give people a check or
    a voucher when they're unemployed or when they're underemployed so that
    they can take the money for up to 2 years to a local community college
    or to any other approved training program to get the kind of training
    they need. When people lose their jobs in this country today, too often
    people walk away from them. And it's wrong.
        Let me take just a moment to talk about one other aspect of our
    strategy that is crucial to our future. As we enter the 21st century,
    trade is becoming more and more important to the long-term health of the
    American economy. We only have 4 percent of the world's population. Our
    success in the future rests heavily on being able to sell our goods and
    our services to the other 96 percent of the world.
        When we open new markets, we find new consumers for our products.
    When we sell more products, we create more jobs. Every billion dollars
    in new exports creates 17,000 new American jobs. That's why I've done my
    dead-level best as President to open new markets around the world. The
    Congress has helped me, because it means so much to our economy and to
    our way of life. The fight for open trade should not be a partisan
    issue. Democrats and Republicans work together to put in place more than
    80 trade agreements in just over 2 years.
        I know you haven't always agreed with us, and I understand. I think
    I did the right thing, because we get the burdens of low wage countries
    shipping goods into this country and into our markets no matter what we
    do. The trade agreements we've reached aren't just pieces of paper;
    they're meaningful, concrete pacts that open up markets to us and create
    jobs that, on balance, pay above the national average.
        Open trade is now expanding all around the world, everywhere, that
    is, but Japan. Of all the industrialized countries, Japan imports fewer
    manufacturing goods for their size than any other by a long shot. At
    times, some people said it was our fault that we didn't sell more there.
    They said our deficit was too high. They said our products were not
    competitive.
        Well, we cut the deficit, and on an annual basis now, our deficit is
    as small a percentage of our income as that of any other advanced
    country in the world. And all of you and millions of American workers
    like you worked hard to make sure that our products could compete and
    win in terms of price and quality.
        Now, in some areas we have made progress with Japan over the last
    2\1/2\ years. We've concluded 14 results-oriented agreements. Believe it
    or not, they're now eating American rice in Tokyo. Japanese consumers
    are buying everything from our apples to our telecommunications
    equipment. But in many areas, Japan's market remains stubbornly closed.
    There's no question this is about artificial trade barriers, not the
    quality of American products.
        By some estimates, if Japan had open markets, the increase in U.S.
    exports would create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. By the way,
    it would have been good for the Japanese, too, because their consumers
    pay almost 40 percent more than they should for the basic necessities
    and products of life.
        Japan's trade barriers are most unfair, as you well know, when it
    comes to cars and car parts. In the last 25 years, we shipped 400,000
    cars to Japan, and they shipped 40 million cars to us. That's a 100:1
    ratio. Be sure and quote that number the next time somebody tells you
    there's not really a trade problem here.
        Twenty-two years ago, in 1973, the Big Three had less than one
    percent of Japan's auto market. Every President since then has tried to
    fix this problem and open the Japanese market to American cars. You know
    what kind of success we've all had, what kind of market share the Big
    Three has today, after 22 years? A whopping 1.5 percent.
        Now, you know how bad this problem is. Our auto industry accounts
    for about 5 percent of our gross domestic product directly. It employs
    2\1/2\ million Americans. But when the auto industry does well, so do a
    lot of other people, the people who make iron and steel and aluminum and
    rubber and glass and semi-conductors, the things the auto industry
    needs. American auto parts are so good that we have an auto parts trade
    surplus of $5.1 billion around the world, because demanding companies
    like BMW and Mercedes use our auto parts all the time. But with Japan,
    we have $12.8 billion trade deficit.
        My fellow Americans, this is a simple question of fairness. The
    American auto market is open to Japanese products, more open than the
    European market, more open than most markets in the world. The Japanese
    auto market, by contrast, is still closed to American products. We have
    tried and tried other means as long as we could. And we have tried long
    enough. Now

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    we must act decisively to level the playing field and to protect
    American jobs.
        I have ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to impose 100 percent
    tariffs on 13 Japanese-made luxury cars by June 28 unless Japan agrees
    to open its markets to cars and car parts before then. Now the ball is
    in their court. I hope Japan is ready to reach a serious agreement. But
    make no mistake, if we have not resolved this by June 28, these
    sanctions will go into effect.
        I'm gratified that there's so much overwhelming bipartisan support
    for this policy in the Congress. It's time for the Japanese to play by
    the same rules the rest of us play by. If working Americans see us
    continue to put up with unfair deals, they'll lose their faith in open
    trade. And we can't afford that. We've made too much progress opening
    markets to risk letting this problem with Japan spin out of control. We
    can't hesitate to fight for our rights.
        Japan is a valued friend and partner. We cooperate on a host of
    other issues. Our trade relationship must also reflect that kind of
    cooperation. It has to be a two-way street. That's all I'm working to
    do. Just as we must be good partners with the other nations of the
    world, we know that Japan must be a good partner with us.
        Let me say again, this is not just in our interest; this is in their
    interest. Even though their incomes are high, they are paying almost 40
    percent more for consumer products than they should. We'll all win if we
    have fair and open trade.
        I also want to ask all of you to be partners in strengthening the
    economy. I believe good, strong unions and good faith collective
    bargaining are essential to helping us meet the challenges of the
    future. That's why one of the first things I did upon taking office was
    to rescind the anti-union Executive orders of the previous 12 years. And
    3 months ago, I signed an Executive order that states loud and clear we
    will not allow companies that do business with the Government to
    permanently replace striking workers.
        The right to strike is a fundamental American right. Anyone who
    tries to deny that right can expect a fight from this administration.
    Labor unions have worked too hard in the 1980's and the early nineties.
    They have made too many concessions. They have changed too many work
    rules. They have shown over and over and over again the willingness to
    make changes to become more productive and more competitive. When they
    make those kind of changes and show that kind of flexibility and when
    they have the kind of results that have been achieved, they deserve to
    be respected. And the spirit as well as the letter of the law should be
    honored.
        We will also fight any attempts by companies to dominate labor
    unions. I will veto any effort to weaken Section 8(a)(2) of the National
    Labor Relations Act. And I am fighting to preserve your hard-earned wage
    protections. The Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act are the
    foundations for decent living standards for many, many Americans. Some
    want to take that away, but I want to stand at your side to protect that
    standard of living that you have fought long and hard to maintain. I
    don't agree with those who criticize these acts as inefficient or
    excessive. I believe that the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Act
    simply put the American Government on the side of favoring a high-wage,
    high-growth economy. I don't believe we should support policies that
    increase the inequality that has grown so much over previous years. I
    believe we should go up or down together. We should have shared
    sacrifice; we should have shared benefits. And I will veto any effort to
    repeal those laws.
        I also believe, as you do, that collective bargaining is not a
    privilege but a right. Our appointments to the NLRB, Bill Gould, Peggy
    Browning, and the General Counsel, Fred Feinstein, are committed to
    preserving that right.
        And so, together, we are all working here, fighting hard to help you
    hold onto what you've struggled to win over six decades. But after
    standing in your way for 12 years, there are those in Congress who now
    want you to believe they're on your side. Kind of reminds me of the
    words to a country and western song, ``How can anything that sounds so
    good make me feel so bad?''
        There are those who talk about the health and safety of working
    Americans that try to weaken, even to gut health and safety standards;
    those who say they support work over welfare but support a welfare
    reform bill that's weak on work and tough on children, one the
    Congressional Budget Office says is unworkable in 44 of our 50 States.
    They say that work should pay, but they oppose raising the minimum wage
    to make it a living wage. All of you know how

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    important the minimum wage has been to making sure people have a decent
    standard of living in this country.
        You know, I saw something recently that brings home the need for an
    increase in the minimum wage more than anything else that I've seen in
    recent months. I was watching a news special on television, and they
    went down South to a town that had a lot of minimum-wage workers. There
    they interviewed a remarkable woman in a local plant who was working for
    the minimum wage. They said to her, ``You know, your employer says if we
    raise the minimum wage, then they'll either have to lay off people or
    put more money into machinery and reduce their employment long term, and
    you could be affected. What do you say to that?'' And the woman just
    threw back her shoulders and smiled and said, ``Honey, I'll take my
    chances.''
        There are a lot of women and no small number of men out there who
    are in that situation. Some of them are raising their kids on the
    minimum wage. The truth is we have looked at all the arguments, pro and
    con. There is really no evidence that a raise in the minimum wage will
    cost jobs, but we do know it will make more people want to move from
    welfare to work. We do know it will reward work. And we know if we don't
    raise the minimum wage, next year it will be at a 40-year low, once you
    adjust for inflation.
        That's not my idea of the 21st century economy. My idea of the 21st
    century economy is Americans working hard, working smart, well-trained,
    well-supported, competing and winning in the global economy, doing the
    kinds of things the UAW is doing today, not driving down the minimum
    wage so that more and more people work harder and harder just to fall
    into poverty. That's wrong, and we need to turn it around. We need to
    give everybody a fair shot at the American dream.
        In closing, let me say that our work here requires a partnership
    with you, so that we'll be ready to compete and win in the 21st century,
    so that we don't raise the first generation of Americans to do worse
    than their parents, so that instead we begin to grow the middle class
    and shrink the under class again. The future of our Nation depends upon
    rewarding the efforts of workers like you. You and your families are the
    heart and soul of America, so we have to work together to preserve not
    only what has been won but to fight for the jobs, the incomes, the
    justice, the American dream of the future. We can do it. We can do it.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke by satellite at approximately 5:45 p.m. from
    Room 459 of the Old Executive Office Building to the UAW convention in
    Anaheim, CA. In his remarks, he referred to Owen Bieber, outgoing
    president, and Steve Yokich, incoming president, United Auto Workers.