    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 4, 1995]
    [Pages 1294-1297]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Alameda County Labor Day Picnic in Pleasanton, California
    September 4, 1995

        The President. Thank you. Can you hear me in the back? Good. Ladies
    and gentlemen, I am so glad to be here to share Labor Day with you, to
    count our blessings and to embrace our challenges. But let me just begin
    by thanking you for that wonderful welcome. I feel right at home, and
    I'm proud to be with the working families in this country.
        I also want to say how very pleased I am to be here with all the
    distinguished labor leaders and public officials who are here behind me
    from the State of California--some from our administration--to be here
    with President Donahue. You know, this is his birthday. He has to
    celebrate his birthday on Labor Day. He gets a two-fer today, so we
    ought to say happy birthday, Tom.
        I'm delighted to be here with Jack Henning, who still gives one of
    the best speeches I ever heard; with John Sweeney and Lenore Miller and
    Chuck Mack and George Kourpias and all the other labor leaders who are
    here. I thank Judy Goff and Owen Marron for having me here. And I want
    to say a special word of thanks to the people who represent you in
    Congress, two of the finest people in the entire United States Congress,
    Congressman Ron Dellums and Senator Barbara Boxer. They are great
    people.
        You know, we are going through a sea change in American life. You
    know it, and I know it. What I want to tell you is I believe that when
    the history of this time is written and people look back on how you and
    other ordinary Americans lived, they will say that this period
    represented the biggest challenge and the biggest change to the way we
    live and work and raise our families of any period since 100 years ago,
    when we changed from being a primarily agricultural and rural society to
    being an industrial society and a more urban one.
        All of you know the facts. We've ended the cold war. We're moving
    into a global economy. We have more and more competition and more and
    more technology. We have more opportunities and more fears. And there
    are a lot of good things that are going on today, but there are a lot of
    troubling things as well.
        And I came here to tell you that in the next 90 days in Washington,
    DC, we're going to make some decisions that will say a lot about what
    kind of people we are and where we're going. And I believe--I believe
    that if we decide to work together and work for the future, the 21st
    century and the global economy will be America's time. But we have to
    make that decision.
        I want a high-wage, high-growth, high-opportunity future, not a
    hard-work, low-wage, insecure future for the working families of the
    United States of America.
        I've worked as hard as I know how to bring the economy back. But let
    me ask you this: You all know what the problem is. If I had told you 30
    months ago, the day I became President, that the following things would
    happen--just listen to this as a good news, bad news story. In our
    country we have over 7 million new jobs. We have 2\1/2\ million new
    homeowners. We have 1\1/2\ million new small businesses. We have reduced
    the deficit from $290 billion to $160 billion a year. We have done it
    while increasing our investment in education and training and technology
    and research to generate new jobs. We have doubled the loans of the
    Small Business Administration to try to create more small business
    opportunities.
        We have done all these things. In California, as hard hit as you
    were by all the defense cuts, the jobs that were lost in the previous 4
    years have been replaced and then some. And we're overcoming the impacts
    of earthquakes and fires and defense cuts. And California's coming back.
    But you know what? In spite of all of that, the median wage has dropped
    one percent. That means most working people are working harder for the
    same or lower wages that they were

    [[Page 1295]]

    making not just 2 years ago but 10 and 15 years ago. That is the great
    challenge of this time.
        Are we going to be a smart-work, high-opportunity, high-wage
    country, or a hard-work, low-wage country where the middle class is
    dividing? And that is the thing that ought to inform every decision we
    make. I think I know what we have to do, and I want you to stand with me
    because you know what we have to do.
        The first thing we ought to do--the very first thing we ought to do
    is to say we are going to do no harm; we're going to stop trying to undo
    the protections in the American law for working men and women. We're
    going to stop trying to weaken workplace safety. Let's work in
    partnership with managers to make it a safer workplace in America, not
    walk away from our obligations to the safety, health, and welfare of the
    American workers.
        Then, what is our affirmative agenda? Number one, don't cut
    education and training; spend more on it. And for those who say we have
    to do that to balance the budget, I say, that is wrong. My balanced
    budget plan gives the working families of America a tax deduction for
    the cost of all education after high school. Our balanced budget plan
    would give working people who lose their jobs the right to a voucher
    worth $2,600 a year for 2 years to take to the nearest community college
    or other education and training institution to get a better start in
    life. Increase our investment in education; don't cut it.
        The second thing we ought to do is to have fair as well as free
    trade. That's what the fight with the Japanese over autos and auto parts
    was all about. I'm all for more trade, but it's got to be fair. It's got
    to be fair to American workers. We can now compete with anybody in the
    world and win if we're given a fair chance to do so.
        The third thing we ought to do is raise the minimum wage. Let me
    tell you, there is no evidence to support the claim that opponents of
    the minimum wage always make, that it costs jobs. But we know one thing
    for sure: On January 1, 1996, if we do not raise the minimum wage this
    year, it will drop in terms of what the money will buy to a 40-year low.
    Two-thirds of the people making minimum wage are adults. Forty percent
    of the people making the minimum wage are the sole support of their
    families. We have children growing up on it. It is wrong to expect
    people to work for $4.25 an hour. Let us raise the minimum wage and do
    it now.
        In California, we have a lot of other things to do. We have to
    maintain the defense conversion programs that our administration has put
    in place. We should not cut the attempts to build people's future. I
    have worked as hard as I could to make sure that you knew that the
    defense contractors and the people that worked on the military bases,
    who won the cold war for this country, would not be left out in the cold
    when the defense budget was cut. And we have to keep working on that.
        Let me give you an example of the kind of thing I'm talking about.
    Today, it is my honor to announce that our Department of Transportation
    is going to give to Cal-Start, a consortium of California companies,
    $3.4 million to help them start building electric cars for the future of
    America.
        Men and women who used to weld Bradley fighting vehicles together
    for our national defense will now build family vehicles that will use
    smart technology, help the environment, and give people good jobs for a
    good future for their families. That's the kind of thing we ought to be
    doing more of in this country. They will be made at what used to be the
    Alameda Naval Air Station. This is the kind of thing that I want our
    Government to do, to work with you in partnership for the future.
        And just today, right before I came out of here, the head of
    Amerigon, Lon Bell, and George Kourpias, the head of the Machinist
    Union, signed an agreement that commits both sides, management and
    labor, to teamwork and a true partnership on the shop floor, working
    together, working for tomorrow. America ought to follow that model. We
    need more of it.
        Folks, this is happening all over California. Earlier today, in
    Monterey, I dedicated the new campus of Cal State on the grounds of Fort
    Ord. They had--instead of a place that is a shell, an empty shell,
    they're now going to have a vital university. They had 4,000
    applications for the first 600 places open there. And within just a few
    years, they'll have thousands and thousands of people there, creating
    more jobs than were there when Fort Ord was running at full steam. That
    is the future of America, working together, working for tomorrow.
        In Sacramento, Packard Bell has already hired about 5,000 people,
    including 500 people where they've moved jobs from overseas back to the

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    United States to northern California to assemble personal computers at a
    former Army depot, with more jobs there than were lost at the height of
    the defense production. That is the future of California and the future
    of America.
        Let me just say one more thing on this Labor Day. In the last 2\1/2\
    years, we had 7 million new jobs, 2\1/2\ million new homeowners, 1\1/2\
    million new businesses, record corporate profits, the stock market's
    gone to 4,700. I think it is time for American businesses to follow the
    lead of our best employers and share more of those profits with their
    working people. The Government can't do that; business has to do that.
        Thirty years ago, in the biggest companies in this country, the
    average executive made about 12 times what the average shop worker did.
    Today it's 120 times. It's time for the working people----
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. All right, let me tell you. I'm all for people
    becoming millionaires. We've had more self-made millionaires since I've
    been President than any comparable period in American history. And I
    like that. That's the American idea. But the people of this country that
    make it go are the average working families. And they deserve their fair
    share of their own productivity and competitiveness. And it's time to do
    it.
        So when I leave you today, I'm going back to Washington for the
    critical struggles over the budget in the next 90 days. And I will say
    again, this is the period of biggest change we've had in 100 years. We
    are going to shape the future. Are we going forward together, looking
    toward tomorrow, or are we going to be divided? Are we going to have a
    high-wage, high-growth, high-opportunity future for your children, or a
    hard-work, low-wage future for half of the working people in this
    country? Those are the questions.
        Yes, we have to balance the budget, but let's do it in a way that
    increases our investment in education, technology, research, and the
    good jobs of tomorrow. Let's don't walk away from it.
        Yes, middle class people ought to have tax relief for education and
    childrearing. But let's don't cut taxes so much just to find tax cuts
    for people who don't need it and, in turn, turn around and raise the
    cost of Medicare, raise the cost of nursing home care on ordinary
    elderly people and their middle-class children who cannot afford it.
    That is wrong. We should not do that.
        Yes, we ought to reform regulation and reduce cumbersome
    bureaucracy. You know something--this is something you ought to tell
    tomorrow when you're talking to people--our administration has reduced
    the size of Government, the number of regulations, and the number of
    Government programs more in 2 years than the previous two
    administrations did in 12. But I did not reduce worker protections and
    our commitment to clean water, clean air, and safe food. That is nuts.
    We should not do that. It is not good for America.
        So as Congress comes back to work, as you send Ron Dellums and
    Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein back to their labors, let me tell
    you, folks, send a message to everybody. This country, it got where it
    is today because we pulled together and we worked together and we worked
    for tomorrow.
        I just got back from Hawaii, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
    end of World War II. I met with veterans from all different races and
    all different backgrounds who forgot all their differences and worked
    together. And that's why we won. And when they came home, the GI bill
    gave them all the chance to go to college and to own their own homes and
    to educate their children. And that's why America won the cold war and
    did so well.
        This idea, this crazy idea that somehow we can go into the 21st
    century by weakening our middle class, by dividing our people against
    each other, by convincing hard-working middle class people that the
    reason they don't have a good income is because of welfare or
    affirmative action or immigration--all of which need improvement, and
    we've done more on that than the guys did before as well--but that's not
    what's holding your wage down. What's holding your wage down is the
    inability to get a fair deal in a competitive global economy because we
    need more investment in education, more investment in training, more
    investment in high-wage jobs. And you know that in your heart of hearts.
        This country never got anywhere being divided against one another.
    So let's go forward together for a better future.
        God bless you all, and thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. at the Alameda County
    Fairgrounds. In his remarks, he

    [[Page 1297]]

    referred to Tom Donahue, president, AFL-CIO; Jack Henning, secretary-
    treasurer, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO; John Sweeney,
    president, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO; Lenore
    Miller, president, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, AFL-
    CIO; Chuck Mack, secretary-treasurer, Local 70, and president, Joint
    Council, International Brotherhood of Teamsters; George J. Kourpias,
    president, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
    Workers, AFL-CIO; Judy Goff, president, and Owen Marron, secretary-
    treasurer, Central Labor Council of Alameda County, AFL-CIO; and Lon E.
    Bell, president, Amerigon.