[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[April 24, 1996]
[Pages 625-628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Service Employees International Union Convention
April 24, 1996

    Thank you for that wonderful welcome, and thank you, Dick, for that 
fine introduction. I really enjoyed working with you, and I want to 
congratulate you on the many years of service you have given to your 
great union. I look forward to working with your new president, Andy 
Stern. I know he has also made a tremendous contribution as your 
organizing director, and I wish him every success.
    I want to also acknowledge your secretary-treasurer, Betty 
Bednarczyk, and my wonderful Secretary of Labor Bob Reich. I know that 
you enjoyed his speech, and I thank him for his work on your behalf.
    And finally, let me thank SEIU for one of its greatest gifts to 
America, John Sweeney. Because of John's leadership, and because of your 
commitment, labor is back. I know in this political season some people 
aren't too happy about that, but I am delighted. I am proud that in 1996 
the voice of organized labor, the voice of working men and women from 
all across our country, will be heard in our national debate.

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I welcome your voice. America needs to hear it. And I promise you this: 
You will be heard.
    You know, in a way, it's hard to believe that SEIU is celebrating 
its 75th anniversary, for you stand out as America's most dynamic and 
innovative union, a shining example of labor's revival. Not only has 
SEIU given renewed hope for millions of union members, you've also 
pioneered new ways to organize both workers in low-wage industries and 
workers in fast-growing industries like health care.
    Of course, we all know your contributions to America stretch far 
beyond collective bargaining. From civil rights and family and medical 
leave to the minimum wage and the fight to save Medicare and Medicaid, 
SEIU has been a leader in the struggle to achieve economic and social 
progress for all Americans.
    In many ways, we're on a shared mission. Four years ago our economy 
was drifting with high unemployment, a deficit twice as high as it is 
now, and very few new jobs. I took office determined to change our 
course, to cut the deficit in half in 4 years, to invest in education 
and training, to shrink and reform the Government so that it works 
better and costs less. Our Government is now the smallest it's been 
since 1965, but it's still strong enough to protect workplace safety, 
pure food, clean air and water, to help Americans to get the education 
and training they need, to help grow the economy and to protect our 
seniors through Medicare. And I'm proud of that strength. You helped to 
get it there, and you helped to keep it there, and I thank you very 
much.
    In 1992, I told the American people that if we carried out our 
economic plan, two things would happen, we'd get 8 million new jobs and 
the deficit would be cut in half. Well, just a couple of weeks ago, we 
learned that our economy has already created 8.5 million new jobs, 
nearly all of them in the private sector. And last month the 
Congressional Budget Office said that by the end of this year the 
deficit will be less than half of what it was when I took office. Over 8 
million new jobs; the deficit cut in half.
    Those are two important commitments you helped me keep to the 
American people. We also have the lowest combined rates of unemployment 
and inflation in 27 years. Our auto and telecommunications industries 
are now leading the world again. We have a 15-year high in 
homeownership, and we have finally halted the decade-long slide in real 
hourly earnings.
    But let's face it, we all know this is a record to be proud of, but 
to build on, not to sit on. Too many Americans still are working harder 
just to hold on. We have to do more. We have to continue to focus on the 
concerns of working Americans, the concerns they have about their own 
families' economic security at a time when the country is undergoing 
profound economic transformation, a transformation every bit as 
momentous as the shift from farms to factories a century ago.
    As I said in the State of the Union, one of the main challenges we 
face is to make sure that this new economy with all of its opportunity 
doesn't leave behind people who are willing to work for their own 
opportunities. We need to make sure that every American can be a winner 
in this time of economic change, to make sure that every American has 
access to education and training and good health care and secure 
pensions. And we absolutely have to get wages rising again in our 
country. We have got to do that for working people and working families.
    That's why I fought for the passage of the Family and Medical Leave 
Act. That's why we have dramatically expanded the earned-income tax 
credit, to give tax cuts to more than 15 million working families with 
incomes under $28,000. That's why just after I took office I swept away 
my predecessor's anti-worker, anti-union Executive orders. And that's 
why, with an Executive order of our own last spring, this administration 
said in no uncertain terms we will not allow companies who replace 
striking workers permanently to do business with our Government. I also 
want you to know that I directed the Justice Department to take all 
appropriate steps to overturn a recent court decision blocking that 
Executive order.
    Now unfortunately, for the past year you and I have been trying to 
work with a Congress that didn't always see eye to eye with us when it 
came to putting in place an agenda that would make the American dream 
accessible to all Americans. I'm proud to say that in these battles 
we've had with Congress we've more than held our own. Not only have we 
managed to stall or defeat practically every major attack on America's 
working families and on the unions that represent them, we may be poised 
on the verge of major victories.

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    I challenged Congress to pass the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, which 
would improve access to health care for 43 million Americans, so that 
you don't lose your health care when you change jobs, and you can't be 
denied coverage if someone in your family has been sick. Now Congress is 
finally moving forward with that important legislation. Yesterday it 
passed the Senate 100 to zero. That's the kind of thing we all ought to 
be doing more of for the American people.
    And I want to challenge the Senate and the House to get together and 
pass a good version, a clean version of that bill. Pass something that 
can pass 100-0 again in the Senate and 435-0 in the House. And when it 
does, that bill will be law the minute it hits my desk.
    I challenge the Congress to raise the minimum wage, which is on the 
verge of hitting a 40-year low. Now, you and I know that no one can 
raise a family on $4.25 an hour. So if we're going to talk about family 
values in Washington, we ought to reinforce them in the heartland of 
America. Last year, I proposed that Congress increase the minimum wage 
to $5.15 an hour. For a parent working full time, this 90-cent-an-hour 
increase would help pay for groceries for 7 months, for 4 months of rent 
or months of child care. Raising the minimum wage will help many of our 
hardest working people. Six out of 10 of them are working women, many 
trying to raise children and hold their families together.
    I'll say again: If we're going to have family values coming out of 
Washington, we should start by valuing families that are working hard, 
staying off welfare, doing their best to raise their children. They're 
living by the values we say we all believe in, and it's harder for them 
than it is for most of the rest of us. I say it's time to give them a 
hand up; they don't want a handout, just a hand up.
    Now Congress appears, at last, to be moving forward with a bill that 
would raise the minimum wage. They should do it, and they should do it 
without gimmicks. That's another bill I want to be the law of the land 
now. And I want to say a special word of thanks again to my friend John 
Sweeney for his hard work on this. The dignity of America's working 
people should be above reproach. If you work full time and you have 
children in your home, you should not live in poverty. We can afford 
this, and there's all the evidence in the world it will not cost us 
jobs.
    Let me say next, I hope Congress will start moving right now on my 
``Retirement Saving and Security Act,'' which would expand coverage to 
help 51 million working Americans who are not now covered by an 
employer-provided retirement plan. The bill would also increase 
portability so workers can take their retirement savings with them and 
keep saving if they change jobs or lose their jobs.
    And finally, I urge Congress to come back to the table and work with 
me to pass the right kind of 7-year balanced budget. Now, in all those 
hours of negotiations over the winter, congressional leaders and I have 
come up with plans that have in common more than enough savings to 
balance the budget, provide tax relief for working families, and protect 
our values by protecting Medicare and Medicaid and our investments in 
education and in the protection of our environment.
    We can make this a season of progress. We can get back to work and 
balance the budget in the right way, so we can bring interest rates down 
again, make homeownership more affordable, get investment in the economy 
and grow jobs, and still protect the things we believe in that keep us 
coming together as a country.
    But make no mistake: I will not stand for a budget that jeopardizes 
these bedrock commitments to Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the 
environment. And I will not accept legislation like the T.E.A.M. acts, 
which would repeal the ban against company unions, or legislation that 
weakens OSHA. We can't afford to jeopardize the future of working 
Americans by undermining the safety and the solidarity of the workplace. 
And if such legislation crosses my desk, I'll do what the Constitution 
entitles me to do: I'll veto it.
    You and your families and the millions and millions of working 
families just like you, you're the heart and soul of the American dream. 
We have to keep working together, not just to preserve what's been won 
but to continue to fight for better jobs, stronger unions, higher wages, 
more justice, for things that will bring us together.
    I honestly believe the 21st century can be the next American 
Century. Our children and our grandchildren can enjoy more freedom and 
more opportunity than any generation of Americans, if we do the right 
thing. If we stand up to those who would take this country backward, if 
we stand up for the men and women who

[[Page 628]]

work hard every day to build our country, we can realize the promise of 
this great Nation.
    You know, there is a lot of talk in Washington about empowerment. 
Sometimes people in the other party mean giving people more choice but 
not caring much about whether they can exercise the choice. Well, we 
want empowerment, too. We want to make sure every person, every family, 
every community, has what it takes to make the most of their own lives 
and live up to their dreams. With your help, we will realize that goal.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at noon by satellite from Suite 520 of Media 
Technologies to the convention meeting in Chicago, IL. In his remarks, 
he referred to Richard Cordtz, interim president, Service Employees 
International Union, and John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO.