Web Letters: Whatever Happened to the Eight-Hour Day?

I have to disagree with this assesment. As a critical care nurse in the Atlanta area, many of my collegues (including myself) do not work pass those hours this article implies. You write on the negligence of one (or a few bad providers) and apply it to an entire group. This is simply not true. Were you aware that if a hospital is short staffed, they have nursing pools they can draw from whether they are in a union or not? If a healthcare provider is impaired with mental and physical fatigue, then something else going on. So before you crucify the entire healthcare industry, please find out the whole story behind the headlines first.

A.J. Cook

Dunwoody, GA

If only Early and Gordon's comments could be pushed into the faces of the Democratic candidates for POTUS and other office on live television! If only!

The American economic system treats people who are not rich as disposable labor robots. Even as productivity has exploded over the last decade, and the number of hours per year has risen and risen, our real wages have remained stagnant or declined, and the retirement keeps going.

We are rapidly reaching a state in which the American middle and working classes will be comprised of ever-poorer people working miserably long hours, until advanced in age, simply to pay bills and debts and to stay afloat.

The Democratic Party "leaders" could care less about this. If only they could be forced to confront the issue publicly! If only!

Seymour Friendly

Seattle, WA

Thank you, Steve and Suzanne, for this article. It's interesting to consider your ideas in conjunction with the egregious lack of social supports for working mothers. Why is the US so far behind other industrialized nations in providing the necessary government programs to help its workers thrive? After all, nobody benefits when working mothers feel compelled to give up their time-consuming careers because they can't afford decent, affordable child care.

What conservatives deride as "socialized" programs--universal single-payer health care, and universal child care and preschool--would make the lives of working men and women more humane. These programs would cost less and be more effective in the long-run than the current profit-driven framework. Many studies prove this.

It's time for Americans of all political persuasions to recognize that the current economy does not benefit all workers. The good life has failed to trickle down to the vast majority of Americans, and it's high time for workers to fight for their rights!

Rashi Kesarwani

Cypress, CA