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
Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer is not qualified to be Labor Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump is considering Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) for the position of…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Commentary: Automation could be a problem in retail theft
Headed into the holiday season, the retail industry is wrangling with a surge in shoplifting and possible solutions to prevent theft. The upsurge may be an…
Blog
Biden overtime rule overruled
A Texas court last week threw out the Biden’s administration’s attempt to rewrite the rules for overtime. The court said that the Department of Labor…
Search Posts
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…
Blog
The 8 Amici (Part 1): Review of 4 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…
Blog
Purple Haze, Seeing Red and Feeling Blue: The NLRB’s Crippling Overreach in Two Recent Actions
The National Labor Relations Board’s two recent actions cast aside decades of established practice and precedent. This disregard for the legal wisdom of consistency has…
Blog
Congress Seeks Multiemployer Pension Reform in the CRomnibus
Congress seeks to reform multiemployer pensions in the CRomnibus (Continuing Resolution/Omnibus spending bill), which as of this evening remains in a precarious position.
Blog
Indiana Supreme Court Upholds Right-to-Work Law
As the number of right-to-work states is expected to grow in the near future, the Indiana Supreme Court reaffirmed the legitimacy of the law in…
Blog
New Minimum Wage Study: Tradeoffs Exist
Many progressives strongly support minimum wage increases. This is troubling, because the effects those increases actually have on many poor people are regressive. Signaling your concern for…
Blog
11 Groups Urge Senators to Allow More Time to Consider NLRB Nominee McFerran
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 10 allied organizations signed a coalition letter urging the Senate to delay the nomination of Lauren McFerran to the National…
Blog
Competitive Enterprise Institute Event Highlights Department of Labor’s Crimanlization of Volunteer Work at For-Profit Businesses
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation are co-hosting an event on December 9th (see event details, here and below), which highlights the Department of…
Letters
11 Groups Urge Senators to Allow More Time to Consider NLRB Nominee McFerran
Read the full text of the coalition letter here The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 10 allied organizations signed a coalition letter urging…
Washington Examiner
Senate ensures NLRB keeps Democratic majority
The Washington Examiner discusses CEI's coalition letter opposing McFerran's nomination to the NLRB: A coalition of conservative groups led by the Competitive…
News Release
Coalition Opposes Obama NLRB Nominee
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and a coalition of 11 free-market and conservative organizations sent a letter today to all Members of the U.S. Senate…
Blog
Labor Scorecard Alert: “NO” on NLRB Nominee Lauren McFerran
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score the upcoming U.S. Senate vote on the confirmation of Lauren McFerran to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Blog
“I’ll Gladly Pay Future Generations for my Pension Check Today”
“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” was the trademark utterance of J. Wellington Wimpy, the mooching character from the old Popeye cartoons.
Blog
Wisconsin Public Employees Exercise Freedom to Choose
Wisconsin unions have spent the better part of the past three years denouncing Governor Scott Walker's signature public-sector collective bargaining reform law, Act 10.
CNS News
UAW Seeks Foreign Labor Groups’ Help to Unionize American Workers
Imagine you are an auto worker and one day you find union representatives campaigning inside your workplace, assisted by a foreign labor union, trying…
Blog
How to Reform an Antiquated Union Model
Vincent Vernuccio of the Mackinac Center has written a report that addresses the major problems of an American labor movement on life support.
Blog
GAO: Union Official Time Costs Underreported
In October, the Office of Personnel Management released the long-awaited report that estimates the cost and amount of time federal employees spend on union activities…
Blog
NLRB’s Mysterious New Member Dodges Important Questions, But Stresses Need for Fully Staffed Board
On December 16, Nancy Schiffer’s term on the National Labor Relations Board will end. Sharon Block was set to take her place but the Obama…
The Hill
An NLRB Prescription for Trouble
President Obama's nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have proven a prescription for trouble, and Lauren McFerran is no exception. Sen. Tom Harkin…
Opportunity Lives
Are Big Box Stores Good For America?
Are big box stores good for America? I thought about that last weekend during a panel where I spoke with fellow Millennials on issues…
Blog
Don’t Get “Grubered” by the Lauren McFerran Nomination to NLRB
Chief Labor Counsel and Deputy Staff Director of the jurisdictional Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Lauren McFerran has her confirmation hearing at 10:00AM…
Blog
New NLRB Nominee Would Strengthen Big Labor’s Agenda
The left has a troubling Big Labor agenda that can only be accomplished by a pen-and-phone strategy to evade the U.S. Senate and House. The…
Study
Top 5 Things Congress Should Consider During Lame-Duck Session
View the document here During Congress’ lame-duck session, both Republicans and Democrats will dig into a number of stalled pieces of legislation…
Blog
USPS Data Breach Highlights Union Hypocrisy
Recently, a United States Postal Service computer system experienced a security breach. The result: around 800,000 current and former USPS employees' private information, including their…
Blog
Miami-Dade Contracts Keep Paying Government Employees to Perform Union Business
In the summer of 2013, Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, and current Lieutenant Governor of Florida, Carlos Lopez-Cantera tried to fire an employee who wasn't showing…
Blog
Right to Work Should Be on the Agenda in Ohio and Wisconsin
One takeaway from the midterm elections is politicians who support labor reform, which protects worker choice and reduce union coercive power, should not fear political…
Blog
The Good, the Bad, and the Public Sector Unions
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Steve Malanga has commented on the growing differences between private and public sector unions. Malanga describes the various instances…
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
Labor and Employment Look at the 2014 Elections
The election tide of November 4, 2104, begs to be examined from a labor and employment perspective.
Blog
Voters Approve Minimum Wage Hikes
As pollsters predicted, voters approved increases in state-level minimum wages in four states (Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota), although to levels less than the increase…
Blog
Volunteering Violation Vignettes
Did you know it is against the law to volunteer for a for-profit business? The issue has surfaced in a trio of varied settings recently.
Blog
Joint Employer Action Anxiously Anticipated
On July 29, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel set the labor and employment world on fire by authorized complaints…
Blog
Scott Walker Calls Union-Backed Lawsuit a Political Stunt
Big Labor just can’t get its way in Wisconsin.
Blog
NLRB Considers Union Request to Make Removing Unwanted Union More Difficult
It is already an arduous process for employees to remove an unwanted union from their workplace. And now the International Association of Machinists is requesting…
Blog
Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs
Minimum wages help some workers, which is why they are so popular. But they aren’t a free lunch. There are tradeoffs. They aren’t always easy…
Washington Examiner
Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage
This article was originally published at the Washington Examiner on October 27, 2014. There are few policies more popular than increasing the federal minimum…
Blog
Sen. Coburn’s Wastebook Highlights Mismanagement of Federal Employees
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released on October 22, 2014, his annual Wastebook that exposes how the federal government fritters away your tax dollars.
Blog
Union Lobbyists Collecting Illinois Public Pensions Is Illegal Gift
Recent reports uncover that Illinois taxpayers are funding union agents' pensions.
Blog
Unions’ Extensive Influence over Politics Highlights Need for Reform
As the midterm elections approach, it’s interesting to keep tabs on the biggest spenders and the heaviest-hitting activists.
