Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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Secretary Elaine L. Chao
Remarks to the National Restaurant Association Public Affairs Conference
Washington, D.C.
September 23, 2002

Thank you, Lee, for that kind introduction.

I am excited to be here today, because your industry helps fuel the economic vitality of this country.

Taken as a whole, the restaurant industry has a trillion-dollar impact on our economy. Even in Washington, that’s a big number.

Your industry is an opportunity-creating industry. You create opportunities for people to own and build their own businesses. You create opportunities for neighborhoods and communities to grow economically.

This industry—perhaps more than any other—exemplifies the uniquely American belief that opportunity is not an accident of birth.

It is not limited to one particular place or group or educational level. Opportunities are created by people who want to work hard and do their best.

You are also America’s largest and most dynamic private-sector employer. 11.6 million Americans work in the restaurant industry — and millions more have gained invaluable experience by working in a restaurant at one point in their lives.

For those you employ, you provide a lot more than a paycheck — you also offer them a future, by giving them training, management experience and advancement.

Americans intuitively understand what the restaurant industry contributes to our nation. A recent Gallup poll found that the food-service industry is “the most highly regarded business sector” in America.

In these days of corporate malfeasance and financial unreliability, I can tell you that is a coveted compliment.

At the same time, as you know, the restaurant industry faces some unique and difficult challenges. The first of these is the economic climate.

After the vicious terrorist attacks of September 11, three sectors of our economy were especially hard hit: the air transport industry, the tourism industry, and the hospitality industry—which includes both hotels and restaurants.

In reality, however, the economy had been declining long before 9/11 happened—even before President Bush took office. For example, manufacturing started to slide back in August of 2000.

Fortunately, the President had the foresight to call for the largest tax cut in decades, and he was able to pass it before the Senate changed hands. Today, even many of those who were hesitant to cut taxes at the time concede that the President’s tax cut helped keep the country out of a much deeper and longer recession.

But this Administration’s leadership on the economy didn’t just stop with tax cuts.

The President created and pushed through Congress a landmark energy policy that will create thousands upon thousands of jobs, lower energy costs in the long run, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

This Administration spent months obtaining congressional approval of Trade Promotion Authority. This paves the way for free trade agreements that will boost U.S. exports and stimulate economic growth—both in our country and in foreign markets.

And the President moved decisively to pass corporate governance legislation, restoring stability in our financial markets by renewing integrity in our corporate executive suites.

I know many of you have gone through a rough year in your businesses. Employment at restaurants and bars declined in 10 out of the last 13 months.

But I can give you two solid reasons to be optimistic about the future.

First, we have the most resilient, productive economy in the world. Even in this rather weak recovery, nearly 40% of unemployed job-seekers find a new job in 5 weeks or less. Sales at restaurants and bars were actually up last month, which is an encouraging sign.

But there’s a second reason not to get discouraged: you have a President and a Cabinet team that are absolutely committed to strengthening our economy and creating jobs.

As you well know, government regulation poses another challenge to the vitality of your industry. Many of your establishments are labor-intensive small businesses. As a result, you can easily be stifled by the heavy hand of government—whether through regulation, taxation, or litigation.

I’ve been told that—in the past—you’ve had that experience with the Department I run, the Department of Labor.

You know the agencies that make up the Labor Department: OSHA, Wage and Hour, the Employment and Training Administration, which oversees the country’s unemployment insurance system…

Please don’t all applaud at once.

We just get too much fan mail to be able to answer it all.

I have been told that, in the past, our Department seemed to have a closed door to those who create jobs and employ people. That’s unfortunate, because I think the best way to help workers is to get everyone in the workplace to do the right thing—and that means reaching out to employers, too.

For example, the National Restaurant Association joined with the Labor Department to launch our new Youth Rules! program… an educational effort to help employers and young workers follow the laws that protect young people in the workplace.

Your representatives have also expressed the restaurant industry’s concerns about our complicated and outdated overtime regulations. And we are listening.

As you know, the regulations that determine who is entitled to overtime have spawned a cottage industry of litigation. In fact, class action lawsuits under this law now outnumber class action lawsuits brought under the Equal Employment Opportunity laws. That’s not your fault—it’s the government’s fault.

The benefit of your input has helped solidify our view that these regulations are seriously outdated and must be changed!

We’ve laid down some simple guidelines: New rules must reflect the reality of the 21^st Century workplace. They must be easy to understand and easy to apply.

In that same spirit, we are implementing a new Department-wide initiative to promote compliance assistance.

If we expect employers to comply with the mushrooming morass of regulations, then we have a role—if not a responsibility—to help them understand what our regulations mean.

Our existing enforcement priorities will remain—but they will be more effective because we will target the small percentage of “bad actors” who flout the law and put workers at risk.

This initiative is sweeping in scope—but we are working it into the fabric of the agency with detailed changes at every level.

For example, OSHA—the agency you love almost as much as the IRS—is creating a new permanent office dedicated to small business outreach—helping industries like yours get the assistance you need to understand our regulations and comply with them.

Our Wage and Hour Division is taking its Field Operations Handbook—the manual that tells inspectors what to look for in your business—and make it available to you.

In the past, if you wanted a copy of the enforcement manual that was being used to find problems in your establishment, you would have to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act and pay a couple of hundred dollars.

Never mind that your tax dollars had already been spent writing and printing the thing!

Now you will be able to get it just by asking the Wage and Hour Division for a copy.

This isn’t just about making life easier for employers. We believe that if you know what standards are going to be applied to your workplace, you are more likely to try to adhere to them.

Many of you run small businesses. Your workers are almost like family to you. It stands to reason that if we help you protect your employees and understand our wage laws, you are going to do the right thing.

We want to bring about the day when someone answers your phone call and says, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” and it won’t make you laugh hysterically.

One way we’ve demonstrated that we are “here to help” is how we dealt with the issue of ergonomics.

As you know, the previous administration developed a regulation on ergonomics that was so massive and burdensome that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted to reject it.

It its place, our Department released a comprehensive plan that doesn’t just order businesses like yours what to do; it proposes safety guidelines that will be worked out cooperatively with businesses and workers.

Our plan will also advance the science and research in the ergonomics field, because any approach to ergonomics that is based on bad science is destined to fail.

Make no mistake: if we find clear ergonomic hazards, we will enforce the safety laws—but let’s work together to protect employees.

To do that better, we are working on a Memorandum of Understanding with the Small Business Administration that would combine the efforts of OSHA and the SBA Office of Advocacy to provide helpful information to small businesses about workers safety—with a particular emphasis on ergonomics.

I’m looking forward to signing that directive, because I know that small-business owners wear a lot of hats, one of which is director of your business’s worker safety program. We want to help you with that job.

There’s another way our Department wants to help you make life better for your employees: by giving you the ability to create Association Health Plans.

This administration is acutely aware of the fact that more than half of the thirty-nine million Americans without health insurance are self-employed or work for small firms. That’s why we want every small employer to have the same ability to pool risk and reduce costs as large employers have. It’s only fair.

AHPs have the potential to bring you lower costs and more variety. And the Department of Labor stands ready to handle their oversight once they are the law of the land.

We are also looking forward to working with the National Restaurant Association and your Education Foundation on a continuing evolution of our workforce investment system.

The success that your education foundation had in encouraging students to look at the hospitality industry for their careers, including mentoring and matching students with managers, is why the Department of Labor was so pleased to present the Foundation with a $1.6 million grant in March of this year.

We hope to shape our nation’s Workforce Investment System—through re-authorization of the Workforce Investment Act—to look more and more like the kind of public-private partnership your Hospitality Business Alliance program has been. Because if we are going to resolve the skills shortage in growth industries, every sector—government, industry, labor and education—must become part of the solution.

Thank you for having me here today. May God bless you, and may God bless America.

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