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Department of Labor Cautions “Gig Economy” Companies against Limiting Workers’ Freedom

Blog

Department of Labor Cautions “Gig Economy” Companies against Limiting Workers’ Freedom

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 01/08/2021

The Department of Labor (DOL) said on Wednesday, January 6, that if someone is currently working for one or more of your business rivals, then…

Labor and Employment

Biden Labor Nominee Marty Walsh Poised to Make Radical Changes

Blog

Biden Labor Nominee Marty Walsh Poised to Make Radical Changes

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 01/08/2021

Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary will elevate a person to oversee the nation’s workplace who is not…

Labor and Employment

Labor Department Independent Contractor Rule out Today

Blog

Labor Department Independent Contractor Rule out Today

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 01/06/2021

The Department of Labor (DOL) acted to promote entrepreneurialism and protect freelancers on Wednesday by issuing a new rule under the Fair Labor Standards…

Labor and Employment

UAW Corruption Case Reveals Lack of Accountability at Union

Blog

UAW Corruption Case Reveals Lack of Accountability at Union

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 12/14/2020

Today the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement in a long-running corruption probe of the United Auto Workers (UAW) that will put the…

Labor and Employment

Democrats Hoping to Unionize Entire Sectors of Economy at Once

Blog

Democrats Hoping to Unionize Entire Sectors of Economy at Once

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 12/11/2020

Democratic lawmakers will push to have entire sectors of the economy unionized, a practice called “sectoral bargaining,” when Congress reconvenes next year. The idea behind…

Labor and Employment

Labor Department Job Report Shows Improvement but Challenges Ahead

Blog

Labor Department Job Report Shows Improvement but Challenges Ahead

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 12/04/2020

The Labor Department’s Friday report that 245,000 jobs were added in November confirms that, while an economic recovery is still underway, its momentum is…

Labor and Employment

Biden’s OMB Pick, Neera Tanden, Once Warned Democrats against a $15 Minimum Wage

Blog

Biden’s OMB Pick, Neera Tanden, Once Warned Democrats against a $15 Minimum Wage

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/30/2020

Joe Biden’s choice of Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, to be the next director of the Office of Management and…

Labor and Employment

A Cold Winter for Santa in Sunland, California

Blog

A Cold Winter for Santa in Sunland, California

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/25/2020

Department store Santa Claus Patrick Turnbull has hoisted children onto his lap and listened to their Christmas wishes for two decades in Sunland, California, but…

Labor and Employment

Biden to Focus on Public Sector Unions First?

Blog

Biden to Focus on Public Sector Unions First?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/20/2020

All indications are that the Biden administration will be the most pro-labor one since at least Harry Truman’s. Biden has promised to defer to labor…

Labor and Employment

Can New York’s Hotel Industry Survive the Latest Union Victory?

Blog

Can New York’s Hotel Industry Survive the Latest Union Victory?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/20/2020

Numerous New York City hotel owners are struggling to stay alive and their workers’ union isn’t exactly making it easy for them. In fact, there…

Labor and Employment

Who Will “Blue Collar Joe” Work for?

Blog

Who Will “Blue Collar Joe” Work for?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/10/2020

Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States signals a possibly radical shift in labor policy, pushing things much further left than even when…

Deregulation

In Spite of It All, Workers, Businesses Persevere

Blog

In Spite of It All, Workers, Businesses Persevere

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/06/2020

The Labor Department’s report that 638,000 jobs were added in October, bringing the national unemployment rate down to 6.9 percent, shows that the best thing…

Deregulation

California’s Proposition 22 Wins

Blog

California’s Proposition 22 Wins

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 11/04/2020

Golden State voters did their neighbors a solid Tuesday by voting to support Proposition 22 by a wide margin, rolling back the misguided and #neverneeded…

Labor and Employment

Department of Labor’s Radical New Concept: Innocent until Proven Guilty

Blog

Department of Labor’s Radical New Concept: Innocent until Proven Guilty

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/26/2020

The Labor Department has an interesting new idea: only publicly shame companies when it is clear that they have made serious violations of the law.

Labor and Employment

Court Ruling Could Kill Uber and Lyft in California

Blog

Court Ruling Could Kill Uber and Lyft in California

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/26/2020

A California appeals court ruling caps a crusade against ride-sharing apps in the state. Just days before Californians themselves were set to decide on…

Labor and Employment

Fans of California’s AB5 Are Drunk with Power, MADD Warns

Blog

Fans of California’s AB5 Are Drunk with Power, MADD Warns

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/14/2020

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is urging Californians to abolish AB5, the state law supposedly meant to prevent worker misclassification by employers. The nonprofit public…

Labor and Employment

Labor Department Proposes Letting Rank and File Union Members Watch over their Organizations

Blog

Labor Department Proposes Letting Rank and File Union Members Watch over their Organizations

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/13/2020

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced today that it wants to update rules to require private sector unions to be more transparent in…

Labor and Employment

Up to 75 Percent of Uber Drivers Would Lose Work If They Were Classified as Employees

Blog

Up to 75 Percent of Uber Drivers Would Lose Work If They Were Classified as Employees

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/05/2020

If organized labor and its allies in government are successful in their bid to force so-called gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft to treat…

Labor and Employment

Amazon Claims Worker COVID-19 Infection Rates below Norm

Blog

Amazon Claims Worker COVID-19 Infection Rates below Norm

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 10/02/2020

Amazon’s critics have made a point of saying the company is endangering its employees by keeping its fulfillment centers active during the COVID-19…

Labor and Employment

New York’s School Principals Try to Flunk the Mayor

Blog

New York’s School Principals Try to Flunk the Mayor

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/29/2020

The problem with public sector unions is that they represent not just the workers for a government entity but also the elected leaders’ constituents. That…

Labor and Employment

Yes, Ridesharing Is Mainly a Part-Time Gig

Blog

Yes, Ridesharing Is Mainly a Part-Time Gig

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/25/2020

The vast majority of people who drive for rideshare company Uber in California do so for less than 40 hours or less a week. That’s…

Labor and Employment

Labor Department Trying to Rewrite Definition of “Employer”

Blog

Labor Department Trying to Rewrite Definition of “Employer”

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/24/2020

In the credit where credit is due department, the Trump administration deserves a cheer for attempting to save an emerging part of the economy: gig…

Labor and Employment

School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics

Blog

School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/22/2020

The U.S. got some good news that the employment rate had fallen to 8.4 percent in July, but it is possible that that could jump back…

Labor and Employment

Brother, Can You Spare Two Weeks?

Blog

Brother, Can You Spare Two Weeks?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/22/2020

Last year, California passed AB5, which was intended to go after rideshare companies Uber and Lyft. The law requires “gig economy” companies to classify all…

Labor and Employment

Headline: School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics

Blog

Headline: School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/08/2020

The U.S. got some good news that the employment rate had fallen to 8.4 percent in July, but it is possible that that could jump back…

Labor and Employment

School’s Out Forever? Teachers Unions Flex Muscle on Reopening Policies

Blog

School’s Out Forever? Teachers Unions Flex Muscle on Reopening Policies

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/03/2020

What determines whether your child school is open this fall? Apparently, the strength of the teachers local union. That was what analysts found using data…

Government Unions

California’s AB5 Holding Back Recovery Nationally

Blog

California’s AB5 Holding Back Recovery Nationally

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/03/2020

There was some modest good news in the Labor Department’s report today on unemployment benefits, the falling numbers indicating that people are finding work despite…

Labor and Employment

Should Parents Have to Choose between Keeping Federal Benefits or Keeping their Kids Safe from COVID-19?

Blog

Should Parents Have to Choose between Keeping Federal Benefits or Keeping their Kids Safe from COVID-19?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 09/01/2020

Should parents have to choose between keeping federal benefits to cope with COVID-19 or keeping their children at home if the local school isn’t doing…

Labor and Employment

This Labor Day, Let’s Celebrate Individual Worker Rights

Blog

This Labor Day, Let’s Celebrate Individual Worker Rights

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/28/2020

Labor Day 2020 is definitely an ironic moment: The federal government is having a holiday to celebrate working Americans at a time when record numbers…

Labor and Employment

App-less in Sacramento? Uber and Lyft Allowed to Postpone California Departure

Blog

App-less in Sacramento? Uber and Lyft Allowed to Postpone California Departure

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/21/2020

On August 20, an appeals court in California allowed Uber and Lyft to halt their plans to flee the Golden State rather than comply with…

Labor and Employment

Can You Have Worker Representatives without Unions? Uber Hopes So

Blog

Can You Have Worker Representatives without Unions? Uber Hopes So

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/17/2020

Rideshare company Uber is trying to find a way to allow its drivers to collectively express any grievances or concerns they have without having those…

Labor and Employment

Trump Adopts one of Barack Obama’s Better Ideas: The Payroll Tax Cut

Blog

Trump Adopts one of Barack Obama’s Better Ideas: The Payroll Tax Cut

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/10/2020

Trump’s decision to Institute a payroll tax holiday via an executive order over the weekend is a good idea even if its effectiveness as an…

Labor and Employment

Californians: Educate Your Children at Your Own Risk

Blog

Californians: Educate Your Children at Your Own Risk

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/06/2020

Activist Carl DeMaio caused a stir this week by holding a press conference in which he declared that hiring tutors could be could result in…

Labor and Employment

Voodoo Economics—Congress pushes for COVID-19 relief for the deceased

Blog

Voodoo Economics—Congress pushes for COVID-19 relief for the deceased

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 08/06/2020

Senate Republicans are attempting to ensure that not only are dead people entitled to the next round of COVID-19 relief funds but those deceased individuals…

R.I.P. Herman Cain (1945-2020)

Blog

R.I.P. Herman Cain (1945-2020)

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/30/2020

Herman Cain was an American original and everything good and bad about politics in one package. A self-made man of ambition and drive who learned…

If You Can’t Convince Them, Confuse Them: California Political Establishment Doubles Down on AB5

Blog

If You Can’t Convince Them, Confuse Them: California Political Establishment Doubles Down on AB5

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/27/2020

Progressives are fond of saying that authority never gives up power easily. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is demonstrating that by rewriting the ballot language…

Labor and Employment

Reversing Opening Comes at a Price

Blog

Reversing Opening Comes at a Price

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/24/2020

This is one of those things that is kind of obvious but needs to be pointed out anyway: Reversing opening your state’s economy due to…

Labor and Employment

Electronic Union Elections: A Permanent “Temporary” Solution?

Blog

Electronic Union Elections: A Permanent “Temporary” Solution?

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/24/2020

Some lawmakers and their union allies want to use the COVID-19 crisis to institute a radical change to union elections allow them to be held…

Labor and Employment

Chamber of Commerce to Congress: You’re Killing the Economy with Kindness

Blog

Chamber of Commerce to Congress: You’re Killing the Economy with Kindness

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/17/2020

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce begged Congress on Thursday to scale back the $600 weekly unemployment benefit bonus it has been giving to U.S. workers.

Labor and Employment

A Massbackwards Approach to Helping Rideshare Drivers

Blog

A Massbackwards Approach to Helping Rideshare Drivers

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/15/2020

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy on Tuesday jumped on the bandwagon that California Governor Gavin Newsom started by suing rideshare companies Uber and Lyft in…

Labor and Employment

Unions Say They Shouldn’t Be Burdened with Complex Process They Created

Blog

Unions Say They Shouldn’t Be Burdened with Complex Process They Created

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/10/2020

A favorite tactic used by unions to prevent membership losses, and the accompanying loss of dues money, is making the process of opting out of…

Government Unions

Congress’ Long Bipartisan History of Defending Cops Accused of Wrongdoing

Blog

Congress’ Long Bipartisan History of Defending Cops Accused of Wrongdoing

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/10/2020

For more than a decade, one of the areas of broad bipartisan agreement in Congress was on protecting police officers “unfairly targeted” for their “aggressive…

Government Unions

Unemployment Drops to 11 Percent, Showing the Economy Can Recover If We Let It

Blog

Unemployment Drops to 11 Percent, Showing the Economy Can Recover If We Let It

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/02/2020

The Labor Department’s announcement Thursday that the unemployment rate fell to 11.1 percent after the economy added 4.8 million jobs in July proves the previous…

Labor and Employment

For Small Businesses, Hiking Minimum Wages Now Is Like Throwing an Anchor to a Drowning Man

Blog

For Small Businesses, Hiking Minimum Wages Now Is Like Throwing an Anchor to a Drowning Man

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 07/01/2020

Three states and three major cities hiked up their minimum wages Wednesday, resisting calls by the business community to hold off until the COVID-19 crisis…

Labor and Employment

You’ve Been Volunteered—San Francisco’s Lawsuit against DoorDash

Blog

You’ve Been Volunteered—San Francisco’s Lawsuit against DoorDash

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/17/2020

San Francisco has sued DoorDash for allegedly misclassifying its employees as contractors, but concedes in its own lawsuit that the “gig economy” company’s drivers work…

Labor and Employment

What Would Scalia Do? Conservative Justices Debate Each Other on Workplace Discrimination

Blog

What Would Scalia Do? Conservative Justices Debate Each Other on Workplace Discrimination

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/16/2020

The Supreme Court's conservative justices split three ways in yesterday’s decision to extend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to cover discrimination by sexual orientation. The…

Labor and Employment

We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges; Left Pushes Labor Leaders to Dump Police Unions

Blog

We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges; Left Pushes Labor Leaders to Dump Police Unions

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/12/2020

The progressive left’s calls to “defund the police” have extended to attacking the right of law enforcement officers to have unions. This has put organized…

Government Unions

Administration Rewrites Congress’ Paycheck Protection Program Loan Requirements

Blog

Administration Rewrites Congress’ Paycheck Protection Program Loan Requirements

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/11/2020

The Trump administration is rewriting the rules on the Paycheck Protection Program, saying that the stipulation that the program’s business loans must be used to…

Labor and Employment

White House Reaction to Job Numbers: Reopen Economy but Keep Tax Dollars Ready

Blog

White House Reaction to Job Numbers: Reopen Economy but Keep Tax Dollars Ready

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/05/2020

The White House’s thinking appears to be that the economy is recovering just by letting people get back to work. Therefore, we should wait and…

Labor and Employment

Unexpectedly Positive Jobs Report Is a Testament to American Ingenuity

Blog

Unexpectedly Positive Jobs Report Is a Testament to American Ingenuity

  • By: Sean Higgins
  • 06/05/2020

The unexpectedly good news of Friday’s jobs report that 2.5 million jobs were added in the last month is a rather inspiring testament to American…

Labor and Employment

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Publisher

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Managing Editor

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Assistant Managing Editor

  • Ryan Smith

Associate Editors

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  • Christine Hall
  • Scooter Schaefer

Contributors

  • Matthew Adams
  • Daren Bakst
  • Joshua Bandoch
  • John Berlau
  • Wayne Crews
  • Myron Ebell
  • Dan Greenberg
  • Sean Higgins
  • Sam Kazman
  • Marlo Lewis, Jr.
  • Ben Lieberman
  • Mario Loyola
  • Jessica Melugin
  • Richard Morrison
  • Iain Murray
  • Alex Reinauer
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  • Ryan Young
  • Joel Zinberg

CEI Makes the Case for Freedom Every Day

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