Whether it is exposing legislation and regulations that benefit unions, lawyers or management at the expense of workers, detailing the folly of occupational licensing laws; supporting the expansion of state right-to-work laws; or highlighting the overreach of lawmakers, bureaucrats, and courts; CEI advances reforms in this crucial, often overlooked policy area. Our op-eds, policy papers, media appearances, coalition work, and innovative research serve as crucial counterweights to the aggressive efforts by unions and their allies to frame the policy debate.
Labor and Employment Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Supreme Court likely to decide fate of federal unions
A matter likely to end up before the Supreme Court soon is the right of federal government employees to form unions. Whether they retain that…
Blog
‘With you or without you’ – The growing rift between unions and Democrats
A rift is growing between the Democratic Party and the labor movement. It was caused in large part by the party’s inability to move the…
News Release
Economy adds 139,000 jobs in May, labor market growth slows: CEI analysis
May added 139,000 jobs to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 4.2 percent. Trump’s policies, namely his mission to shrink the…
Search Posts
Study
Federal Labor Agencies Ambush American Economy
As it enters its final stretch, the Obama administration has launched an unprecedented campaign to reward the president’s union allies, using the regulatory process.
Blog
NLRB Denies Petition to Form College Athlete Union, for Now
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday denied a petition by Northwestern University football players to form a union. While this is a rare…
Blog
The NLRB Declines Jurisdiction in College Athlete Unionization Case
The National Labor Relations Board has declined the opportunity to rule on whether or not college athletes are employees and can therefore be…
CNSNews.com
Forced Union Fees Do Not Have to Go to the Union – You Have Other Options
The Michigan Supreme Court recently ruled that state employees cannot be required to pay dues to a union or risk being fired. This is but…
Blog
The Administration Is about to Upend American Business Practices
It is probably the biggest change in American employment law since the National Labor Relations Act and its reform in the 1930s and ‘40s, but…
Fox News
Critics blast loophole that forces taxpayers to fund public sector union work
The Fox News cites CEI`s Trey Kovacs on the Texas union “release time” benefits: “Union release time is a plague on local, state…
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition to Support Right-to-Work Protections in Missouri
No individual should be forced to financially support an organization with which they disagree or risk penalty. However, in Missouri and 24 other states, private-sector…
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition to Support Right-to-Work Protections in Missouri
No individual should be forced to financially support an organization with which they disagree or risk penalty. However, in Missouri and 24 other states, private-sector…
Blog
Missouri Tax Dollars Finance Union Political Activity
As Thomas Jefferson wrote, the constitution created a "wall of separation between church and state." An equally impenetrable wall of separation should be erected to…
Watchdog.org
Missouri tax dollars subsidize union activism
Taxpayers expect their government to spend tax dollars only on activities that benefit the public. But in Missouri, public employers at nearly every level of…
The Southwest Times Record
Analysis: Businesses Getting Steamrolled On Minimum Wage; Here’s Why
The Southwest Times Record cites CEI`s Carrie Sheffield on the minimum wage: “I think it’s complex,” says Carrie Sheffield, who covers the issue…
Blog
Time to Enforce Texas Constitution’s Bar on Taxpayer Subsidies to Private Parties
Use of taxpayer funds should be reserved for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an individual, corporation, or association. Yet, Texas public employee…
Blog
New York State Mulling Minimum Wage Increase
A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran an article asking, “It’s Summer, but Where Are the Teenage Workers?” It’s a good question:…
Study
A Remedy for the Lone Star State’s Taxpayer Giveaway to Unions
Full Document Available in PDF Use of taxpayer funds should be reserved for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an…
News Release
Report: Texas Cities Reveal Cost of Labor Union Subsidy
A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reveals some of the costs associated with a little-known taxpayer giveaway to labor unions in…
Blog
EEOC Legislates New Federal Ban on Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
When Congress declines to pass a law that would expand an agency’s powers, the agency will sometimes respond by making up the law on its own.
Blog
After 80 Years, Labor Law Needs Reform
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) recently penned an op-ed that celebrates the 80th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act and praises the work of the…
Blog
Largest Union Decertification Effort in Railway Labor Act History Underway at Allegiant Air
Last week, Allegiant Air flight attendants have filed with the National Mediation Board to decertify the Transport Workers Union. If successful, it would be largest…
Blog
Texas: Austin and San Antonio Release Time Records
The San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) granted 4,238 release time hours in fiscal year 2012, at a cost to taxpayers $135,786. In FY 2013, release…
Fox News
Don’t let Team Obama ‘protect’ your retirement account they way it has ‘protected’ your health care
Taking a victory lap as the Supreme Court vindicated ObamaCare, the Obama administration is busy preparing to apply the paternalistic precepts of the health care…
Blog
Government Union Privilege Highlights Necessity to End Forced Union Dues in Public Sector
Every worker should be able to get and keep a job without being forced to pay union dues. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it…
Blog
U.S. Supreme Court to Take on Government Union Power
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert to a case that could give all public employees right-to-work protections. If SCOTUS rules in favor of the…
News Release
CEI Labor Policy Experts Warn New Obama Overtime Rule Will Hurt Jobs, Businesses
“The Department of Labor’s moves to revise overtime rules are another of its attempts to set the clock back on modern work practices," said…
Blog
California Department of Water and Power Trusts Used as Union Slush Fund
Public resources should be used to promote public purposes, meaning tax dollars should not go toward efforts that exclusively financially assist a private entity.
Blog
Was Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s Right-to-Work Veto Influenced by UAW Campaign Contributions?
On June 4, Governor of Missouri Jay Nixon vetoed right-to-work legislation, which would end forced union dues payments, and was joined by UAW Local 249…
Blog
Only One Option to Rein in Politicized NLRB: Eliminate Appropriations
In a recent Forbes article my colleague Wayne Crews explains that "federal regulation matters more than spending." On the flip side, one of the only…
Blog
California Labor Commission Rules Uber Drivers Are Employees
A recent ruling by the California Labor Commission found that an Uber driver is an employee, not independent contractor as the ridesharing company argues. The…
Blog
Significant Labor and Employment Issues in FY 2016 Labor-HHS-Ed Appropriations Bill
Stamped June 15, 2015 (5:55PM), the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee Department on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has…
Blog
Union Deauthorization Provides Workers Weapon to Combat Pro-Union NLRB Actions
Nearly all action to come out of the Obama administration's National Labor Relations Board has sought to ease union organizing campaigns in order to funnel…
Blog
Union Official Time Breeds Corruption
The Office of Labor-Management Standards of the Department of Labor conducts criminal investigations to unearth union wrongdoing that violates the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
POLITICO
Barack Obama poised to hike wages for millions
POLITICO quotes CEI`s Aloysius Hogan on the rule to raise the overtime treshold to be proposed by the Labor Department: Aloysius Hogan, a…
Blog
NLRB Approves of Vulgar Union Gear at Workplace
Under the Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board has gone to great lengths to expand employee Section 7 rights to the point of absurdity.
Blog
NLRB’s End Run Around Right to Work Laws
Yesterday, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing entitled, "Compulsory Unionism Through Grievance Fees: The NLRB’s Assault on Right to Work," which examined…
Blog
“Worker’s Choice” Proposal
On June 2, 2015, Vincent Vernuccio, the Director of Labor Policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and one of my predecessors here at…
Blog
Texas Court Upholds NLRB Ambush Election
On June 1, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas upheld the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) ambush election, which dramatically alters…
Blog
Employment Effects of the NLRB’s Joint-Employer Cases
Following the script of the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil in his book The Fissured Workplace, the National Labor Relations…
Study
The NLRB Joint-Employer Cases
Designating companies with certain business models as “joint employers”, including many restaurants, gas stations, day care providers, cleaning services, auto repair shops, hotels, and more,…
News Release
Report: Labor Union Attack on Franchise Businesses and Jobs Turns on Politicized ‘Joint Employer’ Lawsuits
A new report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute spells out how a set of lawsuits brought by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) attacks independent…
Overlawyered
Liability Roundup
Overlawyered cites CEI`s Hans Bader on the Brown v. Nucor Corp. case: "Brown v. Nucor Corp.: did…
Blog
Union Bosses Lobby for Exemption from $15 LA Minimum Wage
As I reported in yesterday, Big Labor spent a lot of money and resources supporting the Los Angeles' $15 minimum wage.
Blog
Big Labor Money Behind Los Angeles Minimum Wage Hike
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14-1 in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
Blog
Defund the Partisan NLRB
One of the primary objectives of the National Labor Relations Act is to remedy the perceived "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers. However,…
The Washington Free Beacon
SEIU Wants to Kill Franchisees with Kindness
The Washington Free Beacon talks to CEI's Aloysius Hogan on the SEIU threat to franchises: Aloysius Hogan, a labor policy expert at the…
News Release
SEIU Targets Franchisers (Again)
CEI labor policy expert Aloysius Hogan is commenting on today's announcement by the SEIU that the labor union is further targeting franchisors. This is…
Blog
Missouri House and Senate Pass Right to Work
On May 12, Missouri took a great leap forward toward becoming the 26th right to work (RTW) state. First, the State Senate passed the bill…
Blog
Right to Work is Right for Missouri
On May 12, Missouri took a great leap forward toward becoming the 26th right to work (RTW) state. First, the State Senate passed the bill…
Blog
Government Union Collective Bargaining Needs Sunlight
Taxpayers should have a right to know how tax dollars are spent. Unfortunately, one of state and local governments' largest expenditures, public union contracts, mostly…
Blog
President Again Makes False Claims about Supreme Court’s Ledbetter Decision
On April 15, President Obama once again made false claims about what the Supreme Court did in its decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire &…
Blog
Congress Tables Ambush Election Resolution of Disapproval
The Competitive Enterprise Institute planned on scoring the Senate’s veto override vote on S.J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval to void…
Blog
Will Gov. Cuomo Kill the Economic Opportunity James Franco Extols?
Kudos to actor, writer, and director James Franco for his Washington Post piece yesterday explaining an important benefit of McDonald’s and the fast-food and franchise industries writ…
Blog
Congress Gives Up Fight against NLRB Ambush Election Rule
The Competitive Enterprise Institute planned on scoring the Senate’s veto override vote on S.J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval to void…
Blog
Republicans Vote in Favor of Union Giveaways
Last week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sent out a Key Vote alert on two amendments. Both were designed to save taxpayers money by ending policies…
Blog
Key Vote Alert: “YES” on Overriding the Veto of S. J. Res. 8
On Monday, May 4, 2015, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score the Senate’s veto override vote on S. J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review…
Blog
Key Votes Alert: Amendments to H.R. 2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill
Key Votes Alert: Amendments to H.R. 2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score votes in the…
Blog
Theatrical Union Ignores Membership Vote to End Volunteering Exemption
If a vote goes against you, ignore it. That is what a theatrical union did this week, when it announced it would ditch a longstanding…
Blog
SEIU Support for Minimum Wage Hikes Based on Self-Interest
Why is the Service Employees International Union funneling $15 million into the Fight for 15 campaign when the average private-sector union member makes $22 an…
The Fresno Bee
The NLRB’s Emerging, Disastrous Joint-Employer Cases
Franchise businesses provide us food, tax preparation, daycare, and gasoline. Many of us have worked a temporary job or know someone who has. Businesses commonly…
News Release
CEI’s John Berlau Responds to Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule
Today, the Labor Department is expected to release its long-awaited "fiduciary rule." Ostensibly aimed at addressing potential conflicts of interest by brokers who offer retirement investment advice, Competitive…
Blog
SEIU Support for Minimum Wage Hikes Based on Self-Interest
Why is the Service Employees International Union funneling $15 million into the Fight for 15 campaign when the average private-sector union member makes $22 an hour and…
Blog
Washington Teachers’ Union Boss Compensation Not Unusual
A recent article in the Yakima Herald-Republic describes a union subsidy, which pays 75 percent of the teachers' union president's salary, as "unusual." Unfortunately, that…
Products
New Rule Empowers Union ‘Ambush Elections’
With declining union membership, the easiest way for the NLRB to help unions increase their ranks is limiting the time that workers have to contemplate the…
Investor's Business Daily
New Rule Empowers Union ‘Ambush Elections’
Americans usually associate mid-April with tax filing — a trying yet predictable annual ritual. This year, however, it will mean a change in America’s workplaces…
Blog
NLRB Holds Training at Union Office and Top Lawyer Forgets Details of Ambush Election Rule
Congress has held numerous hearings and passed a resolution of disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board regulation known as the "ambush election" rule due…
Blog
Missouri Government Employers Rarely Keep Track of Union Subsidy
One would expect government employers to know where and what its employees are doing while paid by the taxpayer. Unfortunately, in Missouri, that is not…
Washington Free Beacon
Missouri Officials Block Efforts to Track Time Teachers Spend on Union Business
The Washington Free Beacon cites Trey Kovac's study on Missouri union release time: The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank based in…
Study
A Remedy for Taxpayer Giveaway to Unions
Full Document Available in PDF Use of taxpayer funds should be reserved for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an…
Blog
Congress Introduces Bill to Combat NLRB Overreach
Last week, Congress introduced a bill that would restore decades-old National Labor Relations Board precedent by overturning a decision that inappropriately eased union organizing drives.
Blog
Maine Legislators Try to Bring Right-to-Work to the Northeast
Last week, Wisconsin became the 25th right-to-work (RTW) state, meaning workers cannot be forced to pay dues to a union which they may disagree with.
Blog
Wisconsin Unions Sue to Maintain Coercive Power
Workers should find the union lawsuit against Wisconsin's recently enacted right-to-work law (RTW) bizarre and, probably, offensive. The argument put forth by unions is that…
Blog
State Labor Law Reform Beyond Right-to-Work
Governor Scott Walker and Wisconsin's legislature are not alone. A number of states are introducing legislation that enhances worker freedom and holds unions accountable to…
Blog
Steelworkers Allegedly Intimidate Members that Just Want to Work
On February 1, the United Steelworkers (USW) instigated a strike at several oil refineries around the country, a first since the 1980s. After contract negotiations…
Carolina Journal
Quietly, Government Stops Counting ‘Green’ Jobs
Carolina Journal quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the federal government`s `green job` promotion: John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Gov. Scott Walker Aims to Make Wisconsin 25th Right-to-Work State Monday
No individual should be forced to financially support an organization they disagree with or risk penalty. Thankfully, Governor Scott Walker is determined to ensure that…
Blog
U.S. Supreme Court Could Free Government Workers from Forced Union Dues
Public-sector workers could soon gain the freedom to decide whether or not to pay union dues if the U.S. Supreme Court hears the impending case,…
Blog
Union Employees on Public Payroll Challenged in Pennsylvania Courts
A recent lawsuit filed by The Fairness Center, a public interest law firm, is challenging the Philadelphia School District's practice of allowing school employees perform…
Blog
Wisconsin Opponents of Right-to-Work Offer Weak Defense of Compulsory Dues Payments
Predictably, yesterday, labor unions and its supporters protested outside of the Wisconsin Capitol to voice their displeasure with the right-to-work (RTW) bill that is making…
Blog
NLRB Ambush Election Rule Weakens Worker Privacy
Government should not have the power to force private-sector employers to disclose workers’ private contact information to a third party special-interest group for any cause.
Blog
Missouri a Step Closer to Enacting Right to Work
Last Thursday, right-to-work passed the Missouri House. The bill, approved 91-64, makes union dues payments in the private-sector voluntary and now awaits a contentious political…
Blog
Congress Takes First Shot at NLRB Ambush Election Rule
Congress established the National Labor Relations Board as a body made up of neutral arbiters to represent the public in labor disputes. Under the Obama…
Blog
The $7 Billion Slowdown
The ongoing logjam at ports on the West Coast could cost American retailers around $7 billion this year, according to the consultancy Kurt Salmon. That’s a…
Blog
Congress Takes First Shot at NLRB Ambush Election Rule
Congress established the National Labor Relations Board as a body made up of neutral arbiters to represent the public in labor disputes. Under the Obama…
Blog
Treasury Union President: IRS Needs More Money
As budget talks heat-up, union officials are making their presence known and that their agencies need more money.
Blog
Poll: 75% of Ohioans Disapprove of Using Taxpayer Funds to Collect Union Dues
Jason Hart, Watchdog.org labor reporter, recently published a story that highlights a new poll from the think tank Opportunity Ohio on Ohioans' opinions of labor…
Blog
GOP Introduces Labor Reform Bills
As the 114th Congress kicks-off, labor reform seems to be on the minds of the GOP. On January 28, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Lamar…
Blog
Study: Cutting Unemployment Benefits Boosted Hiring
President Obama’s policies reduced employment and slowed America’s economic recovery by discouraging people from working. The Congressional Budget Office says Obamacare will shrink employment by around …
Study
Free to Prosper
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new…
Blog
National Labor Policy Increasingly Grants Big Labor Privileges as Union Membership Declines
A recent press release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the percentage of American workers in labor unions dropped again. In 2014, only…
Blog
Oregon Blueberry Farmers Prevail over Department of Labor Overreach
A majority of attention paid to federal agency overreach in the labor policy arena during the Obama administration has focused on National Labor Relations Board…
Blog
Tossing Free Trinkets—Obama’s Mandatory Paid Leave Proposal
Standing high at the rostrum in the House of Representatives during his State of the Union speech, President Obama acts like he’s throwing free trinkets…
Blog
Tossing Free Trinkets—Obama’s Mandatory Paid Leave Proposal
Standing high at the rostrum in the House of Representatives during his State of the Union speech, President Obama acts like he’s throwing free trinkets…
RealClear Policy
Public-Sector Union Fixes for the States
As states begin their new legislative sessions, lawmakers have many opportunities ensure that government works toward the benefit of the public, not the benefit of…
Blog
Union Exemptions from Criminal Law Must End
In 2012, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report compiled a list of states that grant labor unions exemptions from criminal laws such as stalking, trespassing,…
Blog
Free to Prosper: Top Priorities for the 114th Congress
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new congressional…
Blog
Right to Work Is Good for Business and Workers
Research shows right-to-work states experience greater manufacturing growth compared to states without such laws. That is because many businesses consider RTW, which makes union dues…
Blog
20 States Raise Minimum Wage: Happy New Year?
The minimum wage is one of the most popular policies for fighting poverty, and proposed increases to it usually poll very well. But the twenty…
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…
Blog
NLRB Advances against McDonald’s
By issuing complaints against McDonald’s on December 19, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board gave unions a boost and further riled business groups. On July…
Opportunity Lives
This Colorado Ballot Measure Finally Brought Transparency To The State’s Unions
Though the biggest story in last month’s election was the Republican takeover of Congress, progress at the state level is another important emerging narrative. By…
The Blaze
Want to Help Someone Rebuild Her Business? Better Lawyer Up!
Neighbors and people across the nation were appalled when local shops in Ferguson, Missouri, burned down during the recent disturbances there. Thankfully, family, friends, and…
Blog
The 8 Amici (Part 2): Review of 4 More Briefs Opposing Breach of Joint-Employer Precedent
Joint Employer—Eight Amici for the Employers In total, 17 amicus briefs were submitted in June 2014, in the seminal National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case…
