Nurses are not alone in their fight to defend personal and family time from the increasing demands of work. Mandatory overtime is a growing problem in many parts of our economy and has become a key issue in collective bargaining in steel, communications, auto and other industries.

A study by the International Labor Organization of the United Nations found Americans work longer hours than anyone else in the industrialized world, 1,966 hours in 1997. British workers are on the job 1,731 hours per year. In France, where the work year was 1,656 in 1997, the government is bringing the standard work week down to 35 hours. Norwegians work the fewest hours at 1,399. Most European workers have four weeks of vacation and many have more.

The United States is the only industrialized country where the trend is toward more work--up 4 percent since 1980. In every other country, the trend is toward more time off. A study by the National Sleep Foundation, reported in the Boston Globe, found that 40 percent of American adults say they are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their activities. The Globe reports another study that found 32 percent sleep less than six hours per night.

At the Burlington ball-and-chain demonstrations, a few members of the public said they had to work long hours, too, so nurses shouldn't complain. But the nurses found even these people could be swayed with a question: "Would you like to be the patient of a nurse who has already worked 16 hours?"