I read things about gas prices are running up to record highs. Heating bills will also be at a record high. People are struggling to pay their bills. It seems hard to find a good paying job.

 But if you have a good paying job and you belong to a union you feel it is your right to keep that job and get as much as you can from that company.

 Let’s face it you ask 9 out of 10 people who do not belong to a union and they will tell you that union people (not all) are lazy and complacent because they know they really have to do something really horrible to get fired.

 People like to blame cheaper labor on why we are losing jobs to other countries. I never hear people talk about how the unions are killing companies forcing the owners to find cheaper labor in other countries.

 Let’s look at some facts about unions. They like to pull the strike card on a company to get what they want. It is like legalized blackmail. They want job security for their members. Well the majority of people in this country work without any guarantee. They want more and more money as the owners make more but they forget how the owners had to risk their money to get a company started and if a company is in trouble they balk hen asked to take less.

 They will do what they have to and only what they have to do because the union will not let them do anything that is not in their job description.

 I spoke to a private electrician who had worked for himself and private companies. He decided to take a job within the electrical union. One day on the job he went up on a ladder to change a light bulb and got reprimanded. Why because he should not do that himself. He said it was simple thing he has done many times before as we all have but because he did not have another union member with him while installing it he could not change the bulb alone.

 Then we had a local company who hired electricians do work on this building but they were non-union. So what does the union do? They call on members to picket outside the building because they are using non-union electricians. How crazy is this?

 We now have the theatre workers on strike. The Union is Local One includes more than just the men who move the scenery; it also represents a show's electricians, carpenters and sound people. Important to a show no doubt. But they are not disputing for more money or more benefits but this time they are in dispute over how many people are required to get a production up and running. The producers want to keep the number flexible, depending on a show's individual requirements; the union has been specific in its personnel demands -- how many people and how long are they required to work.

 Does that sound outrageous to you? They think it is a crazy idea for a producer to want to have the flexibility to use as many or as few people as needed on a show.

 The producers say "We simply don't want to be compelled to hire more workers than needed and pay them when there is no work for them to do.".

 The stagehands say their benefits have been hard-won and that they won't give them up without something in return.

 So let’s see consumers are already paying hundreds of dollars to see a Broadway show. Now the Unions want to be able to say they want X number of people standing around no matter how many bodies are really needed.

 How insane is this?

 Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to produce a deal on how much writers are paid when shows are offered on the Internet. So they are on strike. Now it is not the end of the world if Desperate Housewives does not air again this year, but what about all the people it affects and the money they will lose?

 Here we have another issue. The writers want a piece of what is now shown on the internet. So the owners spend millions of dollars building up their websites and finding ways to offer content online that they already paid for and now the writers are suddenly saying hey now that you spent millions of your dollars to build a site and offer our shows online we deserve some of that revenue.

 This is another problem area for me. Does that mean everyone who works for a company should get a piece of what they produce when it is introduced to a new market?

 This is what is wrong with the Unions and their liberal mentality. Let’s have someone else spend all the money, take all the risks and when it is successful lets tell them we want a piece of the action or we will strike to get it.

 Do any of these people care about how it affects anyone but themselves? Consumers will have to pay more on Broadway because they will have to people who are not needed standing around because of Union rules.

 The entertainment industry will have to charge more advertising rates to cover the people who feel they deserve more money on a job that they are well paid for but feel why should the companies make more money without sharing it. In the end it will cost the consumer more.

 Auto workers walk off the job when the auto industry is losing billions a quarter. They want benefits, job security and guaranteed pay increases. All wonderful things but there is a simple solution; DO YOUR JOBS! Get off your lazy butts and stop hiding behind a union that will protect you from getting fired.

 I just wish there was a way to replace union workers when a union goes on strike. I remember when Regean did it to the air traffic controllers. When they threatened to strike he said if they did he would replace them all. They went on strike even though they were not suppose to by law and Regean replaced them all.

 I was really young but I can remember the jubilation I had that he did that. I have never liked the unions for what they have turned into. The traffic controllers who by law were not allowed to strike did anyway. Thought they were bigger than they are.

 The unions always pull the strike card and as they have done in the past with auto companies by striking and winning what they want they also caused their members thousands of jobs when the auto companies closed plants. Do the unions really care about its members or just the dues they are forced to pay to keep them in the lavish lifestyles?

 Companies need some backbone and break these unions who have ruined our economy and are responsible for many jobs going overseas.

 Whether it is entertainment or autoworkers the unions have outlived their usefulness. They did what they had to do. This country will never allow people to work in conditions like back before the unions.

 Things have to change if we are going to survive in a global economic environment and we need to start with the being able to have companies like the producers on Broadway not having to pay people to stand around because some union doesn’t want to lose more members.

 Take Luigi’s poll on this issue at www.mtoliveweekly.com and the results will appear in 2 weeks.

Visit Luigi on the web at www.listentoluigi.com.  Luigi wants to know what you think and will be happy to answer e-mails sent to him at luigi@listentoluigi.com. Some e-mail may be published in The Weekly or on the web.