November 16, 1999
Dear Friend of Mothers,

If you care about the plight of every nursing mother who struggles to carry
on breastfeeding while she goes out to work for pay, please read this letter.

Last June I went to Geneva as a breastfeeding advocate with a group of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the 87th meeting of the
International Labor Organization (ILO), a branch of the United Nations. There
I learned a new meaning of the word "convention."  An ILO Convention is an
international agreement, a model for national labor laws and regulations.
Any nation that ratifies an ILO convention promises to follow it in its
entirety.  But even for nations that do not ratify them, the ILO conventions
serve as standards.

Ever since 1919 the ILO has had a Maternity Protection Convention (MPC)
calling for maternity leave and for nursing breaks after a mother returns to
work. In 1952 the original MPC was revised, and nursing breaks were defined
as working time for which women should be paid. The ILO is now in the second
year of another revision process.  The new MPC will set the standard for the
next 50 years.

This revision could be an opportunity to strengthen protection for
childbearing women at work...but it can also be a danger.  If the convention
is weakened, breastfeeding women in over 80 countries who already have
national laws that provide for paid nursing breaks in the workplace could
lose this protection.

At the ILO's Committee on Maternity Protection last June, there was an
attempt to water down support for breastfeeding by moving the language about
nursing breaks out of the convention and into a recommendation, which is a
weaker, non-binding type of agreement.  Many of the major industrial
countries, among them New Zealand, Australia, Canada, UK, and several
European Union members including the Nordic countries, joined forces with the
Employers' Group to make this attack. Defending nursing breaks were the
Workers' Group, many Third World nations, and a number of other European
countries.  By a close vote, nursing breaks were retained in the convention.
We NGOs believe that our presence had an effect on this vote.  Governments
knew we were there to witness what they did.

In a move that surprised many observers, the United States, which had
formerly voted almost 100% with the other industrial nations, abstained from
the vote on nursing breaks. During the debate, Suzanne Burnette from the
Women's Bureau, one of the US delegates, spoke in favor of nursing breaks,
although not in support of paid breaks.

In June 2000, the MPC revision will be completed.  The ILO Committee on
Maternity Protection will again debate the draft convention and
recommendation and vote on each provision. I hope that the US is planning to
stand up for nursing breaks, or at the very least will refrain from opposing
them.

Countries must report their national position on the MPC to the ILO by
November 30. So now is the time for you to express your opinion about the
issue.

Will you join me *this week* in sending a message to Secretary Alexis Herman
at the Department of Labor? The easiest way is for you to print out, sign,
and mail the following sample letter. Copies should also go to the Women's
Bureau and to other government departments who ought to have input into the
Department of Labor's position.  I have provided addresses for them. Ask
other people who support women's rights to join this campaign.  Finally, to
help me judge the effectiveness of this note, please send an email telling me
what you did.  You can use the following form.

                             Dear Chris,
                             __  I sent a letter to Alexis Herman.
                             __  I sent copies to the other people listed.
                             __  I asked my contacts to send a letter too.

I am counting on your support for women at work.

Chris Mulford, RN, BSN, IBCLC
Swarthmore  Pennsylvania

[Sample letter to Alexis Herman]

Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor
US Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington  DC  20210

Dear Secretary Herman:

I am writing to encourage you and the Department of Labor to give strong
support to women who strive to combine paid work with family
responsibilities.

More than half of U.S. mothers join the workforce before their babies are a
year old.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies
breastfeed for a minimum of one year, getting no food or drink other than
breastmilk for about the first six months. American women's working
conditions are a major impediment to breastfeeding, and most U.S. babies fall
far short of these nutrition standards.

Women who do succeed at combining breastfeeding with paid work are usually
professionals or white-collar workers who can afford to take several weeks of
leave after giving birth, then negotiate with their employers for flexible
working conditions and a time and place to express milk during the workday.
Women in low-paying jobs have less leverage for negotiating, making
breastfeeding a luxury that is out of reach for them, another line that
separates the "haves" from the "have-nots."

Since 1979, the US Public Health Service has set specific goals for
breastfeeding.  Employed women need reasonable accommodations in the
workplace if we are to meet those national breastfeeding goals.  Millions of
federal dollars are spent to promote and support breastfeeding through the
WIC Program.  Surely the policies of the Department of Labor should enhance,
not undermine, these programs and goals of other government departments.

As one of the richest countries in the world, our nation ought to be a leader
in protecting the health and welfare of women and children.  Last June at the
ILO, the US abstained in the crucial vote that retained nursing breaks in the
Maternity Protection Convention.  This was a bold move when many other
industrialized countries were attempting to water down protection for
breastfeeding.  I urge the Department of Labor to go even further at next
June's ILO meeting and actively support paid nursing breaks for all employed
women.

Breastfeeding is an investment in the future.  Today's babies are tomorrow's
workers.

Yours truly,

[Sign your name.]

cc: Delores L. Crockett, Acting Director, The Women's Bureau
cc: Suzanne Burnette, The Women's Bureau
cc: Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture
cc: David Satcher, Surgeon General of the United States

[addresses you will need]

Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor
US Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington  DC  20210

Ms. Delores L. Crockett, Acting Director, The Women's Bureau
US Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington  DC  20210

Ms. Suzanne Burnette, The Women's Bureau
US Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington  DC  20210

Mr. Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture
USDA
14th & Independence Avenue, SW
WASHINGTON  DC  20250

Dr. David Satcher, Surgeon General of the United States
Room 716G
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue SW
Washington  DC  20201

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