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Courts reject states’ efforts to take over union law enforcement
A California court late last month struck down a law that would have allowed the Golden State to usurp the role of the National Labor…
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Court rejects New York bid to take over federal labor enforcement
An effort by the New York legislature to usurp the role of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency,…
Blog
New York, California make a play for federal labor law enforcement
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency, currently lacks a quorum to act. Ordinarily, that type of federal…
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New Report: Federal Employee Union Subsidy Costs $162 million
Last Friday afternoon, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released its biennial report, “Official Time Usage in the Federal Government—Fiscal Year 2014.” The survey…
Blog
Mr. Acosta Goes to Washington
Mr. Acosta came off as smart, accomplished, and an individual who will enforce the laws on the books, not pursue a political agenda.
Blog
Veterans Affairs Employees Spent 1.1 Million Hours on Union Activities
Department of Veterans Affairs employees spend over 1 million hours per year performing union activities instead of fulfilling the mission of the agency.
Blog
Pence Shows Interest in Scott Walker-Style Collective Bargaining Reform
Recent conversations between Vice President Pence and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker signal interest in collective bargaining reform for federal employees.
Blog
Union Membership Hits Rock Bottom
Union membership is on the decline, in part, because many labor unions have become reliant on government to ease union organizing rather than providing value…
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Labor and Employment Reforms for the Next Congress
In the arena of labor and employment policy, the next Congress has its hands full in reversing eight years of red-tape that unduly burdens the…
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Report: Nationwide Grading of Government Union Laws
At the federal level, the two primary labor and employment statutes—National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, have remained relatively untouched for decades.
Blog
Permitting Government Employee Strikes is Bad Policy
On Tuesday, the Transportation Workers Union Local 234 (TWU) union bosses ordered nearly 5,000 public employees who work for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)…
Blog
5 Scariest Halloween Regulations
Regulatory dark matter is a Washington boogeyman. In 2015, there were 39 regulations for every one law passed by Congress. That’s a lot of rules…
Blog
Congress: Do the Economy a Favor, Defund Harmful Labor Regulations
Research from the National Association of Manufacturers estimates that the aggregate costs of labor regulations imposed just this year by the Obama administration’s Department of…
Blog
Unfunded Public Pension Obligations Grow to $5.6 Trillion
State public pension plans are underfunded by nearly $5.6 trillion nationwide, according to a new American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) study.
Blog
How the Next President Can Improve Labor and Employment Policy
With the presidential election heading into the first debate, what can the next president do to improve national labor and employment policy?…
Blog
Arizona Supreme Court Rules Taxpayers Should Be Forced to Subsidize Government Unions
Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court determined that there is no better way to spend tax dollars than to give them to government unions so that…
Blog
Texas Constitution Bans Taxpayer Subsidies to Private Parties
It may seem obvious, but tax dollars are supposed to be used for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an individual, corporation, or…
Blog
National Right to Work Committee Wrong on Air Traffic Control Reform
The handful of conservative critics of air traffic control reform get the facts all wrong.
Blog
Bringing Transparency to Union Subsidies
Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) and Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) have co-sponsored legislation this session to ensure reporting of federal employees using “official time,” the practice…
Blog
Federal Unions’ “Official” Waste of Tax Dollars
While unions representing government employees are still private entities, it is shocking just how much tax dollars they receive for performing union business that does…
Blog
Air Traffic Control Reform Opponents Still Miss the Big Picture, Repeat Errors
Air traffic control is in dire need of reform and modernization, and there is a great plan in the House FAA bill to do just…
Blog
Conservatives for Big Government: Air Traffic Control Reform Opponents Have Lost Their Minds or Principles
UPDATE: Diana Furchtgott-Roth has responded. I offer my reply. Right now in Congress, there is a proposal to end a government monopoly, replace…
Blog
California Court’s Indefensible Defense of Dysfunctional Education Policies
A California appeals court yesterday restored a series of education policies that harm students by making ineffective teachers extremely difficult to fire. The court…
American Legislative Exchange Council
What Can be Done after Friedrichs?
Public sector workers in over 20 states must continue paying union dues, like it or not, after the Supreme Court deadlocked in Friedrichs v California…
Blog
Wisconsin Judge Rules that Workers’ Wages are Unions’ Property
On Friday, April 8, a Wisconsin judge handed unions a surprising victory—surprising because of the argument behind his decision.
Blog
Air Traffic Control Reforms Will Give Us Modern Technology, Not Union Giveaways
Guest Post by David Grizzle Former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Counsel, FAA As the former chief operating officer and chief counsel at the…
Blog
Illinois Pension Reform that Can Pass State Supreme Court Muster
When you’re in a hole, stop digging. That seems like such a simple concept that it shouldn’t need stating, but in the area of public…
Blog
State Legislatures Can Dampen Friedrichs Ruling’s Blow to Worker Freedom
Today, the Supreme Court announced a 4 to 4 spilt decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a decision that keeps alive the Abood…
New York Times
Victory for Unions as Supreme Court, Scalia Gone, Ties 4-4
New York Times discusses the Supreme Court deadlock over the Friedrichs case with Trey Kovacs. “With a divided court, thousands of public servants…
Christian Science Monitor
Court without Scalia: Labor unions survive bid to remove dues requirement
The Christian Science Monitor discusses with Iain Murray the impact of Justice Scalia's passing on the Supreme Court decision on a labor union case. …
Daily Caller
China Stops Building Wind Turbines Because Most Of The Energy Is Wasted
The Daily Caller reports on why China is no longer building wind turbines, and speaks with Myron Ebell on their decision. “China is…
Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court’s deadlock on union fees could be the first of many tie votes
The Los Angeles Times quotes Trey Kovacs on the Supreme Court deadlock over the Friedrichs case. “With a divided court, thousands of public…
Blog
Illinois’ Narrow Road to Pension Reform
On March 24, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down a Chicago pension reform bill that sought to address the city’s considerable pension shortfall. In…
Blog
The Public Pays for Union Political Activity
Taxpayer dollars in state and municipal governments across the country are, normally without public knowledge, used to subsidize government union political undertakings. Clearly, this is…
Republican American
Union business
Republican American reports on Connecticut state employees taking union time funded by taxpayers, and cites Trey Kovacs's report for the Yankee Institute. The Yankee report was prepared…
Blog
House Oversight Committee Demands Agencies Reveal Union Subsidy Data
On February 12, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent out letters to federal agency heads to provide more information on union “official…
Blog
Labor Policy Developments to Watch in the New Year
Labor policy reform was a fast-moving issue during in the past year. At the federal level, labor policy became more tilted in favor of union…
Blog
Union Subsidy Eliminates So-Called “Free Rider” Problem
On January 11, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that could provide right to work…
Blog
Will SCOTUS Friedrichs Case Lead to Member-Only Unions?
Government employee unions have a lot at stake in Supreme Court case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association—especially access to millions of dollars in compulsory “agency…
Blog
In Friedrichs v. CTA, Supreme Court Can Strike a Blow for Free Speech
Oral arguments in one of the most important Supreme Court labor cases in years are set for January 11, with potential major implications in the…
Cato Journal: Fall 2015 Vol. 35 No. 3
Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences
Full Document Available in PDF This article was originally published in the Fall 2015 Edition of the Cato Institute’s Cato Journal.
The Daily Caller
How Unions are Being Given Free Rein to Use Public Employees
The Daily Caller cites Trey Kovac's report on how much public sector unions cost the federal government and tax payers. In general the…
Blog
Workers Deserve Labor Law Reform
Unions use Labor Day as an occasion to remind workers of their past good deeds and deploy their usual rhetoric claiming to have workers’ best…
Blog
Democrats vs. Government Unions
If late House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s famous saying that all politics is local has a corollary, it may be that politics is at its most…
Roll Call
Friday Q & A: Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Part 1, Part 2 Analyst Marc Scribner at the Competitive Enterprise Institute examines transportation policy from a staunchly pro-market standpoint. Here are excerpts…
Blog
CalPERS: It Came from Sacramento
“Heads I win; tails you lose.” That essentially sums up the relationship the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) has long enjoyed vis-à-vis the Golden…
Blog
Moody’s $2 Trillion Public Pension Shortfall Estimate Highlights Need for Better Pension Accounting Practices
In a new report, Moody’s estimates the nation’s largest pension funds face a $2 trillion taken together. That’s a lot of money. But as significant…
Blog
Study Proves Economic Harm of Collective Bargaining
A new CEI study by economist Lowell Galloway and public policy expert Jonathan Robe demonstrates the harmful economic effects of unionization on a state-by-state basis. Among the…
Blog
Obama Claim Spurious; Labor Unions Furious; New Ranking Curious
Coauthored with Alex Bolt. President Barack Obama spuriously claimed, "These so-called right-to-work [RTW] laws, they don't have anything to do with economics," when he futilely…
Blog
Did Former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Violate the Hatch Act?
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it appears that former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis may have violated the Hatch Act—which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political…
Study
An Interstate Analysis of Right to Work Laws
There is compelling evidence suggesting a substantial, significant, and positive relationship between economic growth in a state and the presence of a right to work laws. This paper…
Huffington Post
Women Victorious In U.S. Supreme Court’s Harris V. Quinn
This post was coauthored with Julie Gunlock, Senior Fellow with the Independent Women's Forum. Women just scored a significant victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. In…
News Release
State Pension Shortfalls Ranked in New Report
WASHINGTON, July 9 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the first installment in CEI’s new three-part series, The High Cost of Big Labor, that…