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U.S. Economic Freedom Declines as Regulations Increase
Economic Freedom in the United States declined over the past year, according to the newly released 2012 edition of the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal global…
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Rules for Dictators
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New York MTA Contract Negotiations Show Dangers of Binding Arbitration
In most jurisdictions, government employees responsible for public safety and other essential government services are not allowed to strike. In exchange for unions giving up…
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Judge Upholds Michigan Union Power Grab
A federal judge in Michigan has denied class action status to a lawsuit brought by a group of independent child care workers who objected to…
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Rhode Island’s Bold Pension Reforms Point the Way Forward
To describe pension reform, Utah State Senator Dan Liljenquist put it best: "This is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue, this is a reality issue." Liljenquist…
Blog
Public Pensions Fuel Government Growth
The straitened finances afflicting state and local governments across the nation have brought unprecedented scrutiny to government employees’ compensation, particularly pensions. As pro-market critics have…
The American Spectator
Obama’s Big Labor Wins a Big One
Unions have been disappointed by the Obama administration's inability to move their agenda forward. But they finally won a victory last week. This is bad…
Blog
NLRB Drops Case against Boeing – Finally
Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it has decided to drop its case against Boeing, over the airplane manufacturer’s opening of…
The American Spectator
Ambush Election Prevention
Imagine voting in a presidential election where one candidate can campaign for a year and the other is only told he is running a week…
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California Supreme Court Rejects Union Suit to Bar Private Contractors from Golden Gate Project
Last week, the California Supreme Court rejected a suit by a government employee union, the Professional Engineers in California Government, that sought to…
Blog
Barone is Right: Appeasing Protectionists Is a Bad Idea
President Obama is finally sending three pending trade agreements — with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama — to Congress for a vote. The three trade…
Forbes
Two Cheers For A Big U.S. Trade Deficit
News that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed this summer has brought the usual cheers from commentators. The Associated Press celebrated, noting, “[A] narrowing…
Blog
Infrastructure Si, Infrastructure Bank No
In his Forbes column, James Glassman provides a counterpoint to the Obama proposal to create a national infrastructure bank. Rather than direct funds through…
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Union vs. Union Fight
A band I was in years ago had a song titled, “Sheet Rockers vs. Aluminum Siders,” about a fight our singer saw at work on…
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NLRB’s Pro-Big Labor Ruling Trifecta is Bad News for the Economy
Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for…
Blog
NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
The American Spectator
Obama’s Favorite Union Heavies
Unions thrive on workplace conflict. The AFL-CIO, for example, sponsors a "Bad Boss Contest," which awards the employee who submits the best story…
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Judge Rules against SEIU in Fight with another Union
A judge has ruled that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) improperly benefited from an employer threatening workers with loss of raises in a 2010 election in California…
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Massachusetts’ Collective Bargaining Law: A Worry for the Obama Administration?
It's not easy being a governor or state legislator these days. With states facing deep budget deficits, state lawmakers around the nation are working to…
One News Now
Unions ‘Have Nowhere Else To Go’
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Chicago Mayor Emanuel Gives Unions a Choice: Concessions or Layoffs
Leaders of government employee unions must be feeling lonely these days. Across the country, Democratic state and local elected officials — traditional union allies —…
Study
Labor Unions and the Democratic Party
Full Document Available in PDF Recently AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka compared…
Blog
In Wisconsin, Smaller Class Sizes through Fiscal Restraint
Of the various hyperbolic leftist talking points against the recently enacted Wisconsin collective bargaining law, the “war on teachers” was easily the most shrill, dumb,…
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Official Time: Union Activity on the Taxpayers’ Dime
Government Executive summarizes the Office of Personnel Management’s report on the use of official time, whereby unionized federal employees carry out union business…
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Activist Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law — For Now
Government employee unions and their allies have tried just about everything to stop the efforts by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature…
Blog
NLRB Targets Boeing, Ignores Congress
It is now well known that the Obama administration is trying to use the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as a battering ram to…
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Mark Haines RIP
The American Spectator
Unionization Via Regulation
Are unions desperate? When it comes to reviving their fortunes in the private sector, it certainly seems that way. Union leaders, unable to reverse…
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The Politics of Public Pension Underfunding
To date, the debate over public pensions has focused largely on accounting methods — how best to estimate the level of current funding needed to…
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Trumka’s Empty Threat to Democrats
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is warning Democratic politicians today: Push our agenda, or we won’t support you in the 2012 election. It’s hard to imagine…
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Unionization by Regulation: House Oversight Committee Seeks Answers from Politicized NLRB, NMB
As unions continue to decline in their private sector membership, union leaders are seeking political solutions to their problems. President Obama will need organized labor’s support…
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Senators Introduce Bill to Push Back against NLRB Overreach
Reacting to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) blatant efforts to promote organized labor’s agenda, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)…
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Who’s Afraid of Walmart?
As surely as summer follows spring, it seems like every new Walmart store opening announcement in a major city is now followed by protests. The…
Blog
New CBO Pension Report: Underfunding Could Be Higher
That state and local governments face serious pension funding problems isn't a particularly controversial contention. However, the question of how much they're underfunded by is…
Real Clear Markets
The NLRB Overreaches – Once Again
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has gone lawsuit crazy. With the U.S. House of Representatives now under Republican control, the Board is now…
Blog
Political Bailouts for Underfunded Union Pensions
While the nation's attention has focused on government employee unions' fight to retain their collective bargaining privileges, unions in the private sector are in an…
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Faulty Public Pension Accounting: A Problem too Big to Ignore
One reason the ongoing debate over collective bargaining for government employees has been so loud is that the stakes are so high -- for unionized…
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UN Embarrassed as “Climate Refugees” Fail to Show
It’s hardly novel to compare global warming alarmism to a doomsday cult, but it’s hard to avoid the comparison whenever yet another doomsday scenario is…
The American Spectator
How Regulations Add to the Cost of Government
As many of us rush to finish filling out our tax returns, we should remember that what we pay out in taxes — and how…
Washington Examiner
Regulations are Politicians’ (and Lobbyists’) Best Friends
The annual ritual of calculating taxes and rushing to file is upon us today. And it is hardly news that the ever-increasing complexity of the…
Blog
Dulles Rail Union Giveaway to Increase Costs
An expensive rail line for passengers traveling in and out of the Washington, D.C. region's Dulles International Airport never struck me as a good use…
The American Spectator
Unionization Through Regulation
Changing election rules to favor one side is something we usually associate with dictatorships. Yet a U.S. federal agency did just that recently, as…
Study
The Case for Reform of the Railway Labor Act
End Unionization through Regulation and Allow Workers to Decertify Unions…
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Thomas Sowell on the Value of Consumer Choice
One of Thomas Sowell’s greatest insights is that in public policy, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. That extends to deciding what to spend money…
Blog
Full Employment, Motherhood, and Apple Pie
These are not good economic times for labor unions, whose membership continues a long decline in the private sector. However, they remain a potent…
One News Now
UAW unhappy with success of foreign businesses
Washington Times
UAW Doesn’t Care What You Think
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King recently pledged $60 million of his union’s money to pressure foreign automakers into unionizing their employees. He…
Blog
Harper’s vs. UAW
When can one expect leftists to oppose unionization of a business? When it’s their own. That’s the case at Harper‘s magazine right now, where some…
Blog
Will UAW Seek Foreign Help to Unionize American Workers?
America has a vibrant and successful auto industry — just largely outside of Detroit. For years, many foreign automakers’ American divisions have been successful at…
Study