For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 15, 1999
International Campaign Targets U.S. Companies for Importing Surgical Instruments Made by Pakistani Children
WASHINGTON —
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and three of the nation’s top labor leaders — John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO; Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union — called on American suppliers of surgical instruments to join an international effort to eliminate child labor in Pakistan. At the Capitol Hill news conference, the labor leaders also announced the start of a major U.S. union campaign to raise public awareness on the issue child labor in Pakistan and to curtail the purchase of medical instruments made by children. One avenue the unions are exploring is negotiating contract language prohibiting the use of instruments made by children’s hands in the hospitals and clinics where they work.
McEntee noted that AFSCME represents over 325,000 health care workers, who would use their influence in the campaign. "We [in the labor movement] fully intend to use the collective power of millions of workers to pressure health care providers and facilities to boycott the use of these instruments," McEntee told reporters. "AFSCME is working with its health care affiliates — the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, United Nurses of American, the Federation of Physicians and Dentists and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists — to put language in future labor contracts prohibiting the use of child-made surgical instruments."
Stern, speaking on behalf of SEIU’s 675,000 health care workers, said his members are not only concerned that the tools they use might be made by child laborers, but that their pension funds might be invested in some of the U.S. companies distributing the child-made surgical instruments. "Together, union members represent over two trillion dollars in pension funds that invest in U.S. companies. For example, SEIU members are participants in CalPERS and the NY Common Fund, two of the largest pension funds in the U.S. As worker-investors, we want to make sure that none of that money is being used to exploit children."
Sweeney told reporters, "We hope that American corporations will join with American unions in supporting efforts to end child labor, such as ratification and implementation of the new International Labour Organization (ILO) convention."
Sen. Harkin noted that the ILO convention on child labor, which was passed in Geneva, Switzerland, in June, has been introduced in the U.S. Congress, and he wants this country to be the the first to ratify it. "We must take the lead in ratifying ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The eyes of the world on the United States. We must take the lead in ending this vestige of slavery around the world and right here at home."
Public Services International (PSI), which is spearheading the child labor campaign worldwide, reports that child workers "suffer frequent injuries from machinery, burns from hot metal, respiratory problems from inhaling poisonous metal dust." Furthermore, PSI notes that "because child workers have not fully matured mentally, they are less able to appreciate occupational risks or the need for protective measures."
PSI has contacted nine large American suppliers, asking them to support efforts to stop child labor in the production of medical instruments, such as scissors, forceps, scalpels, surgical knives and clamps. At the news conference, Hans Engelberts, general secretary of PSI, noted that only two of the nine companies have replied to its letters since they were sent two months ago. The two companies that did respond sent assurances that their products are not made by children in Pakistan. However, Engelberts called for the creation of external monitoring for independent verification of the claims. Furthermore, Engelberts asked for the enlistment of the large multinational suppliers in the campaign to eliminate child labor. These suppliers, he said, "are the most influential link in the industry supply chain to leverage genuine support on the part of their vendors for credible programs of action [to protect children]."
The Pakistani government estimates that 7,700 children, as young as 8-years-old, are employed by workshops which file, grind and polish medical instruments in the Sialkot area of the Punjab Province. The United States imports an estimated 45% - 65% of all Pakistani surgical instruments, most of which are produced in the Sialkot area.
Ann Twomey, an RN and vice president at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), also spoke to reporters. "AFT’s members in the health care profession and teachers are especially concerned about this issue. We’re working to make U.S. employers and suppliers aware of the problem
