At a summer meeting of the international labor organization, AFT president Sandra Feldman cast U.S. labor's vote for a new international convention banning the worst forms of child labor.

The agreement was passed unanimously by the ILO's 174 members. Each country sends representatives of government, workers and employers. Feldman represented American workers, along with AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. The treaty applies to children under 18. It bans slavery, prostitution, pornography, drug trafficking, forced military conscription and work that is harmful to the health, safety or morals of children.

President Clinton is urging the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty this fall. The U.S. has not supported broader international treaties on child labor in the past.