Let me fire some bullets at the NYC Transit workers and any actually all current union members out there.

• This is not the 1920’s anymore. The very regulations for safety and other potpourri you wanted were not only granted but now stifle business and increase cost everywhere. The “shop floor” is highly regulated and in a lot of cases is the law. Forming a union to make the workplace safe is unnecessary. If the workplace is unsafe, go to any Democrat to be directed to the proper government agency to report it.
• This is not the 1960’s anymore. You can’t get by with an 8th grade education and expect to be able to buy a house and support a family. Automation teamed up with third world countries to cheapen labor and eliminate many jobs. Consider a new career.
• There is such a thing as a maximum amount your job is worth under any circumstances. With some jobs there is potential to reach perfection in execution. In the case of the Transportation Workers in New York, tell me, exactly how much better at driving a bus can you get after say, six months of doing it day in-day out? I am not attempting to denigrate the profession but what I am saying however that these jobs have a maximum value. When people come by to cut the grass in your lawn, don’t you have a maximum price you will pay for having it done and, beyond that you’ll find someone else? Consider your own job in the same light.

Some other points:

• The unions are destroying their own industries by rendering the companies the work for incapable of competing. Mayor Bloomberg should look at Ronald Regan and what happened when the Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. He fired all of them and, we haven’t had any more infrastructure crippling problems since then
• In order to stay competitive, I have to continuously learn new things. 20 years ago I did most of my programming in C and, a little Oracle under Unix and CP/M. Well, this is not the 80’s anymore. While my Unix skills might still be relevant, C has not been used for any good reason in quite a while and frankly, I have made a lot more money messing with SQLServer than Oracle. I digress. The point here is that I have to continuously learn or else get left behind. This goes for *any* profession, not just data processing.
• As a software developer, I would not be able to to earn close to what your average bus driver earns if I did not go to college and continuously learn after that. (Tripped out isint it?)
• We live in the information age. This is where the growth is. This is where things are happening. Its time to face reality, accept the maximum value of your job, educate yourself and if necessary, find a new career. The Honeymooners and The King of Queens are just TV shows. Driving something for a living does not get you the four bedroom house and the hot wife anymore.

It is time for Roger Toussaint president of the Transit Workers Union ( TWU Local 100 ) to do some time and as for the Transit Workers themselves who are striking, to find a new job. Leftist publications are now concentrating on the fact that Michael Bloomber is a billionaire and referred to them as thugs. So I suppose if Bloomberg was poor he could make that comment?