[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 2 (Monday, January 15, 2001)]
[Pages 36-41]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks at the Rededication of the AFL-CIO Building
January 8, 2001
The President. Thank you. What do you think, Mom? She did a good
job, didn't she? I thought she was great. [Laughter] When Susan said
they would collectively bargain for ice cream, I thought to myself, it
is only in large families that even John Sweeney would be against
unionizing. [Laughter] No parents can stand against their united
children, if there are enough of them. [Laughter]
Thank you, Susan. Thank you, John, for your friendship, your
support, for bringing such incredible energy and direction to the labor
movement; to all the officers of the AFL-CIO; and Maureen, thank you for
your friendship; Mrs. Kirkland; Monsignor.
I would like to thank all the members of the labor movement, and I'd
like to thank all the members of my administration who support labor.
John said there were too many to mention, and he'd get in trouble, but I
want to also say a special thank you to Secretary Alexis Herman for
being labor's friend and partner. Thank you.
I think it would be interesting, you know, maybe it's just that we
don't have as much to do at the White House these days--[laughter]--but
we have the largest turnout here of senior members of the administration
for any event outside the White House we have ever held. So I would like
to ask Mr. Podesta and Martin Baily and Kathy Shaw, from the CEA, and
Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti and Gene, and Janice Lachance and Aida--
everybody here who is part of the administration stand up--Karen, stand
up. Everybody stand up, Chuck. Thank you.
You know, John, Karen Tramontano is going with me, and we're
exploring whether you can unionize a former President's office.
[Laughter]
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. Karen will do it. [Laughter]
The President. We're ripe for organizing here.
I have so much to thank you for. I thank you for the work you did
for the Vice President, for your pivotal roles in the victories in
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and so many other places--yes, and Florida, and
the victory in Florida, yes. [Laughter] You're taking my good joke away.
[Laughter]
I also want to thank you, those of you from New York, for all you
did for Hillary. I am very grateful to you for that. When she was sworn
in last Wednesday, I can honestly say it was one of the happiest days of
my life. I don't know when I've been that happy since Chelsea was born.
And it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for so many of you who
stuck with her and supported her, and I am very, very grateful.
Senator Kennedy, I would like to thank you for your friendship and
your support. In ways that will probably never be a part of the public
record, you have been my true friend for a long time, and I thank you.
This is a very emotional moment for me. We're thinking about the
last 8 years; that's what you're thinking about. I'm thinking about the
last 26 years. In 1974 I ran for
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Congress in a district where, in 1972, President Nixon had defeated
Senator McGovern 74-26. I ran against a Member of Congress who had an 85
percent approval rating when I started, and, obviously, a 99 percent
name recognition. I was zero-zero.
I raised in this campaign about $160,000, which was a fortune in
1974. And over $40,000 of it came from the labor movement, which was a
fortune in 1974. And I was one of the top 10 recipients of all House
candidates of help from labor. I was 28 years old, and nobody thought I
had a chance. It turned out, I didn't. [Laughter] But the truth is, I
nearly won the race. We made it part of an overall referendum on the
policies and direction of the National Republican. It basically made the
rest of my career possible, and it could not have happened without the
labor movement.
And I was sitting here thinking that people that really helped me
then, most of them aren't around anymore. A man named Dan Powell, that a
lot of you knew, who was then the head of the AFL-CIO region in Memphis;
the Arkansas president, Bill Becker; the guy that ran the labor movement
in west Arkansas, a guy named Dale Dee Porter. One of them is still
here, though, Wayne Glenn. Thank you. He was there with me 26 years ago.
And every day for 26 years, almost--well, 27 years now; I started in
January of '74--I have been profoundly grateful to the working people of
my native State and this country for what you represent and what you
stand for and for the fact that you not only have tried to help your own
members, but you've also cared about the larger society.
When Susan was talking about her family and then she kind of morphed
her remarks into her union, I thought it was a beautiful thing because
we all really believe that our country and our unions and our workplaces
ought to work the way our families do when they work best.
All worthy endeavors, including politics, are team sports. And it
doesn't matter how good the quarterback is or the best player on the
team; if you don't have a team, you can't win. And I will say again, I
don't even have the words to tell you how profoundly grateful I am for
more than a quarter century of being able to be your teammate.
John quoted from George Meany's speech, and there were a few moments
there, when he started talking about court decisions, I wondered if it
was really John changing the words. [Laughter] Then I realized that Mr.
Meany was defending a court decision, not attacking one.
The mission that was articulated by George Meany in 1955 has
endured. The AFL-CIO still leads the country in its efforts to improve
the lives of its members and all working Americans, as well, to bring
economic, social, and political justice to the work place, but also to
the Nation and, increasingly, to the world beyond our borders. Thanks to
vigorous leadership, rejuvenated organizing efforts, and strong
grassroots support, you are on a roll.
This building is a symbol of today's labor movement. It's on the
same foundations you started, but you've modernized it for a new age.
You've adapted to the new challenges and new opportunities. You're
looking to the future. And I hope we can be part of that future
together.
You know, I got tickled when Susan said she thought she was going to
introduce Hillary. I thought, for gosh sakes, I've only got 12 days
until I'm a has-been. [Laughter] Just 12 days to being a has-been, let
me enjoy my 12 days. [Laughter]
The truth is that we're all going to do fine in this new century if
we stick with what we've done these last 8 years. If we keep having open
and honest debates, what John called differences of the head, but we
focus on the basic mission: empowering workers, strengthening families
and communities, embracing change, but in a way that is consistent with
our values. We've been working on this for some time now. It turns out
it worked pretty well.
In October 1992, when I spoke to you as a candidate for President, I
said I wanted us to build an America where labor and management,
business and government, and education worked together to create a high-
wage, high-growth society. That's the America we worked to build for 8
years now. And along the way, we disproved an idea that the other side
had relentlessly promoted for a
[[Page 38]]
dozen years, which is that when labor is at the table, the economy is
weakened, and the only way America would have a healthy business
environment is if government was regularly condemned and labor was
regularly weakened. It turned out not to be true.
Now, it's going to be interesting to see, now that they have a
certain influence over the course of America's affairs, whether they
acknowledge that in the last 8 years we proved that America is better
off when labor and business and government work together for the welfare
of all Americans.
Today, we have a stronger labor movement and more partnership, and
if we were trying to hurt the economy, we did a poor job of it. We have
22.5 million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years,
the lowest female unemployment rate in 40 years, the lowest Hispanic and
African-American unemployment rate in history. And the difference in
this recovery and so many others is that everybody was doing better.
Every sector of our economy had about the same percentage increase in
its income over the last 4 years, with the bottom 20 percent having a
slightly higher percentage increase.
Since 1993, the yearly income of the typical family is up $6,300,
hourly wages up by more than 9 percent in real terms. So this rising
tide has truly lifted all boats.
We also have the lowest poverty rate in 20 years, and last year we
had the biggest drop in child poverty in 34 years. And it is no accident
that these things have happened at a time when the labor movement was a
bigger partner in the policymaking direction of the United States
because you cared about not only your own members but the working poor,
as well, and the family members of people who were in the American
workplace.
For example, in 1993, when the deficit was high and we had to turn
it around, you supported giving the tax cut that we could afford to the
15 million American families that were working 40 hours a week for the
most modest wages. Nearly none of them were union members, but you
wanted them to have the first tax cut because, most of all, they had
children in the home and you felt that nobody should work 40 hours a
week and raise their kids in poverty. And because you did that, over 2
million people have been lifted out of poverty, because of the earned-
income tax credit. And you should be very, very proud of that.
We have provided now various tuition tax cuts, the HOPE scholarships
and others that 10 million Americans are using to go to colleges and
community colleges around this country. The direct loan program has
saved $8 billion for students and $5 billion for colleges of higher
education because you supported the right kind of tax relief, targeted
toward education.
Family and medical leave, something that we were told would be just
terrible for the economy, has now given over 20 million Americans the
chance to take some time off from work when there's a sick parent or a
newborn baby, and the American economy is stronger than it's ever been.
And its been good for business, because you have more and more and more
people who feel comfortable at work because they're not having their
insides torn up worrying about their children or their parents at home.
We passed Senator Kennedy's Kennedy-Kassebaum law to let millions of
Americans keep their health insurance when they change jobs. We
strengthened pension protection for tens of millions of Americans. We've
got 90 percent of our kids immunized against serious childhood diseases
for the first time. The life of the Medicare Trust Fund has been
extended to 2025. We have the cleanest environment we have ever had: The
air is cleaner; the water is cleaner; the food is safer. We set aside
more land--Secretary Babbitt says if it will get done, we'll surpass
Teddy Roosevelt, and we'll have set aside more land than any
administration in history. And it hasn't been bad for the economy.
But I want to say something else, too. As in every new progressive
era, we sparked a pretty severe reaction from the forces that didn't
like the changes we were trying to make. And when they won the Congress,
they tried, among other things, to weaken the labor movement. So we
defeated their attempts to repeal the prevailing wage, to bring back
company unions, to weaken occupational safety laws. Instead, we cracked
down on sweatshops, protected pension funds, passed tough new worker's
safety rules
[[Page 39]]
to prevent repetitive stress injuries, and at least once, we did succeed
in raising the minimum wage.
Now, we were told when we raised the minimum wage it was a terrible
thing for the economy and particularly rough on small business. Well,
let's look at the record. Since the last time the minimum wage was
increased, America has created almost 12 million new jobs. The
unemployment rate has dropped from 5.2 to 4 percent, and in every single
year, we have set a record for the number of new small businesses in
America.
So the next 4 years are going to be challenging for you, but at
least you'll have one solace: You'll have all the evidence on your side.
I must say, there have been times in the last few years when I've almost
admired our opponents in the political arena, because they are never
fazed by evidence. [Laughter] You know, ``Don't bother me with the
facts. I know what I think, and I know who's greasing these wheels, and
the facts are absolutely irrelevant.'' But at least you have it, and you
know most Americans care about them so don't forget the evidence.
You've built a record that proves that America is better off when we
are pro-business and pro-labor, when we all work together and everybody
has a seat at the table, when everybody's concerns are heard and
individuals are empowered. Don't forget it. Fall back on the evidence,
and you will prevail.
What does that mean? Well, it means that you've got to keep winning
new members. As the work force has changed, your membership has gone
down. Now it's going back up. You have to be geared to the future of the
economy. John and Rich Trumka and our Linda Chavez-Thompson--I have all
these jokes I want to tell, and my staff told me I could not tell any of
them. [Laughter] They say that I have to assume the appropriate role for
a former President, and I cannot say any of the things that I want to
say, which would leave you howling in the aisle--[laughter]--and the
only thing that could get me a headline in my increasing irrelevancy
from my friends in the press. [Laughter] But just use your imagination.
[Laughter]
I want to focus on the future now. And as a citizen, I want to help
you build that future. You've got to get the minimum wage increase this
year, number one. One of the reasons our economic team is here is that
we're releasing a report today from the National Economic Council which
highlights the challenges facing workers who are working full time for
the lowest wages. It shows--listen to this--more than 2.6 million
Americans earn at or near the minimum wage. Another 6.9 million
Americans earn less than the $6.15 an hour that we would have raised the
minimum wage to. So that it would affect 10 million people, almost, and
all their family members.
Now, these are people who work every day to stock store shelves,
wash dishes at restaurants, care for our kids. They're in every town and
city and of every racial and ethnic group. They are not, as the
caricatures often would have it, mostly middle class teenagers working
for money to go out on the weekends. Nearly 70 percent of them are
adults. More than 60 percent are women. Almost half work full time. And
many are the sole breadwinners struggling to raise their kids on $10,300
a year. They need and they deserve a raise, and they have waited for it
for far too long.
Senator Kennedy did everything he could to get it passed at the end
of the last session of Congress, and I thought we were going to get it.
But in the end, our friends on the other side decided that they could
get an even bigger tax cut out of milking the minimum wage if they
waited until the new session of Congress.
Now, these families should not be punished for the failure of
Congress to act for the last 2 years, since I first called for an
increase in the minimum wage. We ought to make up for lost time and lost
wages by raising the minimum wage above what I originally proposed 2
years ago, because they've lost more time.
And I want to thank Senator Kennedy, Congressman Bonior, and the
others who are working with you on this. But I would like to say
something else. You've got to make it clear to the American people what
you will and what you won't trade for raising the minimum wage. Raising
the minimum wage should never be conditioned on taking away
[[Page 40]]
overtime or other labor protections that workers have. And again, you
have something you didn't have 8 years ago. No serious person can say
that it is necessary to take these things away to have a strong economy
or to have a vibrant small business economy. It's a dog that won't hunt
anymore. Use the facts as your shield and keep working.
Let me say that I hope that you will continue to swell the ranks of
your members, and I hope you will continue to be on the cutting edge of
change. There's a lot of other things that need to be done, and I think
you'll be surprised how many of them you can get done the next 4 years
if you're smart and careful.
I think it's clear that we have the money now to add a comprehensive
prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, and I hope you'll do
it. It's clear that the Children's Health Insurance Program has now
added over 3.3 million people to the ranks of people with health
insurance, and we've got the number of people without health insurance
going down for the first time in a dozen years. It's time to add the
parents of those children to the ranks of those with health insurance.
It's clear that we can do more to balance work and family without
hurting the economy. I hope there will be an expansion of family and
medical leave. I hope there will be a strengthening of the equal pay for
women laws. I hope we'll pass the ``Employment Non-Discrimination Act,''
and I hope we will increase our support for child care for working
families. There are many, many people, huge numbers, who are eligible by
law for Federal assistance in paying their child care bills that we have
never come close to funding.
I hope that you will continue to work to empower poor people in poor
communities, whether in inner cities, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta,
or on Native American reservations. I hope you'll continue to work to
make America the safest big country in the world. I hope you'll
continue--let me be more explicit here. In Michigan and Pennsylvania,
you had to fight against a lot of your members who were NRA members who
believed that Al Gore was going to take your guns away. And you did a
brilliant job saying, ``No, he won't take your guns away, but the other
guys will take your union away if they can.'' And you won a ground war.
Now, let me be serious here. The truth is, most of your people who
are NRA members are good, God-fearing Americans who wouldn't break the
law for anything on Earth, and they get spooked by these fear campaigns.
Now, we're in a--I want to make a suggestion--in a nonelection year,
when there's not the kind of pressure that we saw last year. And let's
don't kid ourselves, the reason that our party didn't win the Congress,
in my judgment, more than anything else, is what they did in those rural
districts to us again, just like they did in 1994 on guns.
Now, it didn't work at all in New York. Why? New York even has a--
you have to get a license to carry a gun in New York. And there's lots
of sporting clubs. Nobody has missed a day in the woods in a hunting
season. Nobody has missed a single sports shooting event. So all those
fear tactics didn't work in New York, because all the hunters and
sportsmen could see from their own personal experience that it was not
true.
But I believe that you--we've all got a big interest here in keeping
America going in the right direction on crime. We've all got a big
interest in keeping guns out of the hands of kids and criminals. And we
don't need to wait for an election where we're all torn up and upset and
you have to win a ground war against your own members just to have an
election come out all right over an issue that we shouldn't be debating
in the first place at election time.
So I regret that I have not been more persuasive, because I came out
of that culture. But I'm telling you, you need to use this next year,
when there's no election going on, to go out there and sit down and talk
about where we're going, because we've got to keep working to make
America a safer place, and nobody wants to end the sporting and hunting
culture that has meant so much to so many of your members. And I implore
you, you can do this. Maybe nobody else in America can do this, and you
can do it.
But you have to do it in a nonelection year, in my opinion, where
people aren't fighting against you and you don't feel like you're
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pushing a rock up a hill. And I'll help you if I can. This is a big deal
for America.
We're still not near safe enough as a country. I'm glad the crime
rate has gone down for 8 years. It's a gift you can give the children of
your members and the communities in which you live.
And finally, let me say, I hope you will continue on some of the
things we disagreed with over the years. We've got to figure out how to
put a human face on the global economy. We are becoming more
interdependent. We are becoming more and more interdependent. There is
going to be more trade whether we like it or not, a trillion dollars a
day in pure--just money transactions across national lines.
We have got to figure out how to be on the side of making sure that
the little folks in every country in the world are not trampled on by
the increasing power of financial transactions and international
economic transactions. Instead, we have to prove that we can lift up the
fortunes of all people. We have to have good labor rights. We have to
have good environmental standards. We have to have fair and open
financial rules, so that people don't get ripped off. We've got to do
this together, and you've got to be part of the debate. Whenever you're
part of the debate, America wins, and Americans win.
And I'll tell you, I've had a great time. I said yesterday in my
church, they may find somebody who can do this job better than me; they
will never find anybody that had any more fun doing it than I had. I
have had a great time. But America is always about tomorrow. And I will
end where I began.
This building should be a metaphor for the future of the AFL and the
future of America. You built a new building with new technology for new
times on old foundations. You stayed with what was best about the past
and embraced what was necessary and attractive about the future.
So whenever you come in the front door of this building, think about
that as a roadmap for your future. And remember what Susan said about a
union being like a family and a workplace being like a family and a
nation being like a family. And remember that great line from George
Meany's speech--we should never forget our obligation to do unto others
as we would like to be treated ourselves. We should never forget that
politics, work, and life are all team sports. It's been an honor to be
on your team.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 1:20 p.m. in the lobby. In his remarks, he
referred to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers member Susan
Hagan, who introduced the President; Ms. Hagan's mother, Ada Hagan;
Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer, and Linda Chavez-Thompson,
executive vice president, AFL-CIO; President Sweeney's wife, Maureen;
Irena Kirkland, widow of former AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland;
Monsignor George G. Higgins, former director, Social Action Department,
National Catholic Welfare Conference (later known as the U.S. Catholic
Conference), who attended the first dedication in 1956; Gene Sperling,
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the
National Economic Council; Aida Alvarez, Administrator, Small Business
Administration; and Charles M. Brain, Assistant to the President and
Director of Legislative Affairs.