Blog
Businesses ask courts if the NLRB is constitutional
The National Labor Relations Board has made a point in recent years of re-examining the laws and regulations that the federal agency enforces, offering…
Blog
The Ray Charles Theory of Marginal Utility
Musician Ray Charles’ nickname was “The Genius,” given on account of his ability to blend different genres of music – big band, rhythm and…
Blog
Study Finds that Outlawing Work Reduces Employment
George Mason’s Mercatus Center has provided further proof that California’s AB5 law, which was intended to boost worker employment by preventing them from being…
Blog
Flight attendants try to decertify union that most never voted for
One of the underlying flaws with US labor law is that it sees workers and the unions that represent them as synonymous, rather than…
Daily Caller
Dem Demands On Automakers Could Backfire On Their Own Climate Agenda And Americans’ Wallets, Experts Say
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in the Daily Caller about Democrat’s demands on automakers: “The leadership of the UAW is publicly backing the…
Daily Caller
Biden Admin’s Latest Labor Rule Poised To Upend Key Sector Of The Economy
CEI’s Sean Higgins was cited in the Daily Caller on a recent labor rule: “The consequence is that it gives regulators new…
Blog
Congressional Review Act vote shows cracks in joint employer rule
A vote in Congress Friday showed off the cracks in the support for the National Labor Relations Board’s new “joint employer” rule. It…
Washington Examiner
GOP tees up effort to roll back Biden’s ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in the Washington Examiner on recent GOP efforts to roll back an ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule: Sean…
Citation
GOP tees up effort to roll back Biden’s ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited on the Washington Examiner about a GOP effort to rollback employer rules: Sean Higgins, a labor policy expert…
Blog
Power to the… regulators? That’s what new worker classification rule will do
The US Labor Department’s new worker classification rule is a major step backwards, causing trouble for worker and employer alike as they try…
News Release
216,000 jobs added in December, employers looking ahead to 2024: CEI Analysis
The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in December, slightly less than the year’s average gains. CEI experts explain why the labor market is…
Blog
The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild recently concluded a lengthy strike against Hollywood studios with a contract that included new protections for its members from…
Blog
A steel sumo that might wrestle China to the mat
There are ironies a-plenty in the news that Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. plans to buy U.S. Steel. The fact that a foreign company would…
Blog
Common sense has left the building: The push to redefine joint employer rule
The National Labor Relations Board did something earlier this year that union leaders and their allies on Capitol Hill have long demanded: It…
News Release
Economy adds 199,000 jobs in November: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs in the month of November, according to newly released government data. It’s a tightening labor market, with…
Blog
Is UAW still an automaker union? How Gaza became a top issue
The name “United Auto Workers” would appear to pretty clearly indicate who that union represents, but it is increasingly becoming inaccurate. Today, only…
Blog
Biden admin: Taxpayers don’t need to know about ‘official time’
The Biden administration is actively rolling back transparency requirements for unions, most recently by no longer posting information on the controversial practice…
Blog
Ringside seats at today’s Senate cage match
A lot of preparation goes into testifying before a Senate committee. To borrow from the late Donald Rumsfeld, there are the “known” things…
Testimony
Testimony before the Senate HELP Committee, November 14, 2023
Chairman Sanders, Dr. Cassidy, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Sean Higgins and…
Citation
As more workers take to picket lines, the labor movement is having a moment
Higher wages are also driving up inflation, said Sean Higgins, a labor policy expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank.
The Hill
New Biden ‘Joint Employer’ regulation is a boon for unions
What if you could get in legal trouble simply because you knew somebody else who got in trouble? You didn’t do anything wrong with…
DC Journal
Point: 40-Hour Workweek Is Under Scrutiny
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to…
Blog
NLRB responds to CEI on government ‘encouraging’ unionization
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a rulemaking that included a direct rebuttal to an argument made by the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
News Release
Economy added 150,000 jobs in October, fewer than average months: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs in the month of October, fewer than in average months, according to government data released today. That…
Blog
UAW strike epilogue: Big Three will continue to shrink
The United Auto Workers has won, according to the headlines. What the union has won will force three companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis,…
Blog
NLRB expands ‘joint employer’ rule to include kitchen sink
The National Labor Relations Board has issued its new rule for “joint employer status.” As expected, it extends the rule for when one…
Blog
Ford-UAW deal: Declare victory and go home
The current United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three automakers has been more of a public relations spectacle than an actual strike. At…
Washington Times
Supreme Court ruled public sector workers cannot be forced to pay dues; unions take them anyway
In the five years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector workers cannot be forced to pay union dues,…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
Forcing federally funded public works projects to pay the so-called prevailing wage is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The intention…
Blog
As Predicted, UAW Strike Remains Limited, Spares Automakers From Full Walkout
It only took about three weeks, but mainstream journalists are becoming aware of something the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been pointing out from the…
News Release
Economy adds 336k jobs in September, with implications for unions, job-seekers, and Fed interest rate decisions: CEI analysis
The economy added 336,000 jobs in the month of September, according to just-released government numbers. CEI experts expect this means opportunities for labor…
Blog
The year of strikes ain’t over yet
2023 has had the most major labor strikes the country has seen in decades, with likely more to come. Unions leaders are itching to…
Blog
UAW’s Fain says new strike strategy has produced no ‘meaningful progress’
UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that the union would expand its strike against Ford and GM. Fain said an additional 7,000…
Washington Examiner
UAW strike: What the media won’t tell you about the strike
One of the things that liberal groups, unions included, have been good at is creating a narrative and selling that to the …
Blog
UAW strike mostly a PR move
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is making much of the fact that the union is currently engaged in its first-ever strike against…
Blog
United Auto Workers want a bigger slice of a shrinking pie
If the United Auto Workers go on strike this week – and as I write this it appears as though they will –…
Fox News
This Labor Day, let’s get real about how things have gotten better for workers in the USA
The nature of employment has changed in the last decade more than many people might realize. More of us work from home. More of…
The Hill
My job, my choice: The National Labor Relations Act does not require unionization
It’s been just shy of a century since the National Labor Relations Act was signed into law, guaranteeing workers nationwide the right to bargain…
Blog
An invitation for union organizers to cheat in elections
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule for union organizing elections that says the election will go ahead even when…
News Release
187,000 jobs added in August 2023, with more people trying to get back to work: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August 2023, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent, according to data released Friday by…
Blog
Biden administration working overtime to regulate working overtime
The Biden administration issued a new rule this week that vastly expands of the number of workers covered by federal overtime rules. While…
American Banker
Reach out to employees before unionizing becomes an issue
With labor making a bid to unionize the financial services sector, management should proceed with the utmost delicacy. The National Labor Relations Act is…
News Release
Biden Labor Department offers new rule on “prevailing wages” that is less accurate
The Biden Labor Department today announced the issuance of the final rule making changes to Davis-Bacon Act labor regulations, ostensibly aimed at helping…
Washington Examiner
Labor Department to issue pro-union final rule on construction worker pay: Report
Washington Examiner cites CEI’s Sean Higgins on union regulations: Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner that…
News Release
Economy adds 187,000 jobs in July 2023: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Not spectacular but not bad, say…
Blog
What you don’t know about the Wagner Act
What stance does the National Labor Relation Act, the main federal law regarding union rights, take towards workers joining unions? A long-held article…
Blog
The Paycheck Protection Act gives Congress a chance to defend the little guy
Freshman Missouri congressman Eric Burlison (R) has introduced legislation called the Paycheck Protection Act. The act, a project of the nonprofit American…
Study
The Forgotten History of the Wagner Act
Introduction President Joe Biden on April 26, 2021, announced the creation of a special Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The purpose of…
News Release
Report disputes role of federal government in labor union participation, reveals forgotten purpose of the National Labor Relations Act
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report disputes claims by President Biden and others that the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) directs the…
Blog
Hollywood and the collateral damage of strikes
The current Hollywood strike by writers and actors has forced several others who don’t have an issue with the studios to stop…