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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202/219- 8211.
Addressing a crowd of several thousand delegates to the
National Baptist Convention in San Diego, Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich
predicted that the family values theme will dominate the 1996 presidential
election. He stressed that there "will be a titanic struggle to define the
term," but in the end, family values must be fundamentally linked with family
economics.
Reich noted that in the United States, "almost all
families work, and they are working harder than ever." Although the income of
the average household has been increasing, the reality is that "for the past 15
years, the wages of most Americans have been stuck or have fallen, and families
have lost their grip on the middle class, or their hope for entering the middle
class. They have entered the anxious class.
"We live in the most economically stratified society in
the industrialized world--a nation that is surging toward still greater
inequality at an alarming pace. This division is the country's most virulent
threat to family values," the secretary said.
Calling them "sirens of cynicism" Reich attacked those who
have used the family values theme as an attack on affirmative action and
immigration. "Their strategy is simple: Divide and conquer. Ignore the real
problems, get anxious people scared and mad at each other -- and hope this fear
puts enough points on the board to win when the buzzer sounds," he warned.
He said Senator Bob Dole "has done us a favor by
discussing family values in the context of the responsibility our corporations
owe to the rest of society." But, he asked, "if companies have responsibilities
as corporate citizens, don't they have a responsibility to provide decent wages
to their employees? Corporate profits are setting record levels, yet most
paychecks are going nowhere."
The secretary urged that the National Baptist Convention
delegates and others not be silent in the family values debate. "We must
explain what family values really mean, and not be cowed by the crowd that
thinks it has a copyright on those precious words."
Reich listed several Clinton Administration initiatives
that link family economics to family values, including raising the minimum
wage, "because $4.25 is not a living wage," and closing the income gap between
the rich and the poor in order to "grow the middle class and shrink the
underclass."
He noted that the Administration is working toward safe,
affordable child care, but that "those who claim the banner of family values"
want to propose welfare reform that makes it tougher to get child care. A vocal
advocate for workplace training and education, Reich also mentioned the
Administration's efforts to expand opportunities for all Americans to get
education and job skills, and lashed out at those who "want to cut funds for
education and job training by 30 percent."
Praising the community and social services provided by the
Baptist congregations represented at the convention , Reich added that "neither
you nor the people you preach to can do it alone." Family values, he said,
entails personal responsibility, but that "is only one ingredient in the
recipe. Companies must exercise responsibility. The nation must exercise
responsibility."
Reiterating the link between family values and family
economics, Reich reminded the crowd that "we honor family values every time we
create a job. We honor family values every time children have a safe place to
grow when their parents are at work. We honor family values every time we
secure a working family's pension. We honor family values every time we teach a
child to learn. We honor family values every time we move a young mother from
welfare to work, or help a worker get better skills, or help someone who has
lost a job find a new one."
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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