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Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

Archived Speech — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Secretary Elaine L. Chao
Keynote Luncheon Address
Senior Executive Service (SES) Leadership Training Program
Frances Perkins Building
U.S. Department of Labor
Washington, D.C.
September 25, 2002

Thank you, Cam [Findlay, Deputy Secretary of Labor].

I am delighted to be here with you—our career and non-career SES team—at our first SES leadership training program.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve met many of you individually. But there is no substitute for coming together as a group, getting to know each other better and sharing our vision for the future of the Department. I hope this leadership conference will be the first of many opportunities to do so.

As members of the senior executive service, you represent the best we have. You are at the pinnacle of your careers. You have a wonderful opportunity to make a real difference for our country because you are in the position to make things happen in government.

This is particularly important since the events of September 11th last year. There is a greater respect and appreciation for the value of public service. People are looking to us to help them overcome the aftermath of those vicious attacks.

The Department of Labor is a key member of the President’s economic team, along with the Departments of Treasury and Commerce. In that context, you are much more than senior government managers. You are the front line generals in the President’s battle for our nation’s economic security. Your performance is as important to helping our country recover from the economic devastation of September 11th as any homeland security measure.

That’s why this leadership conference is so timely. All of you are here today because you have already demonstrated that you are leaders. The rest of the government ranks follow you.

Those of us who are political appointees may set the agenda. But we rely on your professionalism to carry out that agenda. Without you, we cannot accomplish anything. Our initiatives would be like footprints in the sand on the beach, which are washed away when the next tide comes in.

I am counting on your objectivity, commitment and loyalty to help us ensure that our workforce is prepared for the challenges of the 21st century so our country can remain strong.

Throughout the day you’ll be hearing in-depth presentations about our goals for the Department.

We have a very, very busy year ahead of us and we will need your ideas and input more than ever.

I want you to have a clear understanding of what my priorities are and the philosophy behind them, so you can help us craft the best way to accomplish our mission.

We’re asking that you put a renewed emphasis on compliance assistance. You know the statistics—it would take OSHA inspectors 167 years to inspect every worksite under our jurisdiction. We simply don’t have the resources to do it. So we have to work smarter. We have to target the bad actors, while helping those who want to follow the law do a better job of protecting workers.

Every time I approve a fine for an egregious safety violation where a worker has been hurt or injured, I think about what we could have done to prevent it from happening in the first place. This is the philosophy behind compliance assistance—to enhance the reach of our worker protection safeguards beyond the individual inspector.

Another one of my top priorities is pension reform. The recent scandals in corporate America dealt a serious blow to our economy that is exacerbating the problems of September 11th. People have seen their retirement assets plummet as major companies file for bankruptcy and the stock market declines. There is a crisis of confidence in our economic institutions.

Some of you may know that as part of the President’s Task Force on Retirement Security, this Department played a key role in crafting his retirement security and corporate governance reforms. When Congress acts on these plans, we must be ready to implement them. Your leadership is vital to restoring trust by reassuring the public that their pensions are safe from fraud and abuse.

Another one of my top priorities—some say it is my mantra—is ensuring that our policies and programs reflect the real needs of the 21st century workforce. I’ve said it many times in public and I want to say it here again: we are spending $12 billion annually on job training programs. I want to ensure that we are using this money to train workers for real jobs in the real economy, not just processing them through a system. We have an ambitious plan to change the culture of our workforce investment system to a more proactive one. But we cannot accomplish this goal without you. This is key to bringing our programs in line with the needs of the 21st century workforce.

Another part of our effort to meet the needs of the 21st century workforce is modernizing our regulations. As you know so well, many of the laws we administer and the regulations we enforce have been around for a long time. As a result, some of these regulations are seriously outdated and need to be changed. Regulations governing overtime and comp time are two that come to mind. I appreciate the great work you have already accomplished in helping us rationalize the Department’s regulatory agenda. I look forward to even more progress in regulatory modernization this year.

These four priorities:

  • Compliance assistance,
  • Pension reform,
  • Modernizing our job training programs and
  • Modernizing our regulations

constitute an ambitious agenda. I have great confidence that we can accomplish these goals because I have confidence in you.

You have already shown the level of excellence this Department is capable of through your enthusiastic implementation of the President’s management agenda. This Department is number one among all cabinet departments in meeting these targets, thanks to you. The President himself complimented us during a recent cabinet meeting on that fact and I wanted to share that compliment with you today.

I am confident that this progress will continue, and I want to assure you that the Department is prepared to recognize and reward such achievements. That’s why we increased the SES bonus pool for the second year in a row.

I am also a strong supporter of developing executive talent from within the ranks of the department through our SES candidate development program. The first two career SES hires I approved were recent graduates of the SES development program. I look forward to the possibility of future SES selections from the current class of candidates that you have been introduced to today.

Let me close by thanking all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting. It’s difficult to set aside an entire day, particularly for those of you who came in from the regions. So I very much appreciate your enthusiastic participation in this leadership conference.

As the institutional memory and permanent leaders of the Department, you are the long-term guardians of the public trust. It is an honor and a privilege to serve with you at the Department of Labor.

Thank you for all you are doing to serve our workforce and keep our country strong.

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Archived Speech — Caution: Information may be out of date.