[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 30 (Monday, August 2, 1993)]
[Pages 1451-1452]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 organiza- 

[[Page 1452]]

tions; 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.