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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President


For Immediate Release October 1, 1993
      ACTION ON NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS 
       Executive Order Creates Labor-Management Partnership
             Legislation Offered to Help Streamlining

WASHINGTON -- Acting on recommendations made in the National Performance Review, President Clinton today (10/1) signed an executive order creating labor management partnerships and offered Congress legislation to help streamline the federal bureaucracy by creating a time-limited buy-out program for executive branch agencies.

The executive order creates the National Partnership Council and instructs agency heads to create labor-management partnerships as proposed by the National Performance Review to effectively involve government employees and their union representatives in achieving the goals of the review, creating a government that works better and costs less.

The legislation, the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1993, is aimed at helping executive branch agencies streamline through a time-limited buy-out program as proposed by the National Performance Review. Currently, only the Defense Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have such authority. The NPR recommends a 12 percent reduction in the federal bureaucracy that would cut 252,000 positions. The legislation also would eliminate narrow restrictions on employee training to help develop a multiskilled workforce, another recommendation made by the National Performance Review.

"As we take action to create a government that works better and costs less, it is critical that government workers and their representatives are effectively involved. We learned during the National Performance Review that government workers on the front lines know what needs fixing and how to fix it," said Vice President Gore, who led the National Performance Review. "Especially as we move to downsize and streamline the bureaucracy, it is essential that federal workers are involved."

The Vice President said the Administration looked forward to working with Congress to pass the legislation, specifically praising the efforts of Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, Chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee; U.S. Rep. William Clay, DMO, Chairman of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee; Sens. David Pryor, D-AR, and Ted Stevens, R-AK, of the Senate Federal Services Subcommittee; and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., of the House Subcommittee on Compensation and Employee Benefits. The Vice President noted that 1992 hearings Sen. Pryor conducted which led to similar buy-out legislation for the Department of Defense and many of the principles of that legislation are included in this proposal.

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