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
Free the Economy podcast: Liberty movement jobs with Claire Kittle Dixon
In this week’s episode we cover the war on prices, the great un-wokening of corporate America, the attack on credit card…
Blog
UAW loses 13,000 members
The United Auto Workers (UAW) lost 13,000 members in the last year, according to filings the union made to the Labor Department. The UAW said…
Blog
NLRB seeks to revoke First Amendment for management.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week sent a warning that literally anything management says about a union organizing bid…
Search Posts
The Washington Free Beacon
UAW Continues Unionization Efforts at Volkswagen Plant in Tennessee
Labor experts told the Washington Free Beacon that the union is unlikely to face any consequences for breaking the agreement. It is up to the…
Pensions and Investments
Public Policy Group Calls For Risk-Free Public Pension Discount Rate
State governments could provide a clearer picture of public pension debt as it relates to state budgets by using a low-risk discount rate, said a…
Blog
CEI Ranks States’ Pension Debt and Analyzes the Consequences
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the first installment of CEI’s new three-part series, The High Cost of Big Labor, which looks at the economic…
Blog
CEI Ranks States’ Pension Debt and Analyzes the Consequences
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the first installment of CEI’s new three-part series, The High Cost of Big Labor, which looks at the economic…
Study
Understanding Public Pension Debt
Today, many states face budget crunches due to massive pension debts that have accumulated over the past two decades, often in the billions of dollars. State…
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…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief on Unionization of Student Athletes
Full Brief Available Here "Big Labor spends more than $600 million per year on politics and lobbying. Unions are big business, and…
Blog
Amicus Brief to NLRB regarding Unionization of Collegiate Athletes
For the National Labor Relations Board’s full consideration of unionizing student athletes, I submitted an amicus brief opposing the regional director’s decision and direction of…
Blog
The Left’s Labor Blind Spots
As you may have heard, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito handed public sector unions a minor defeat this Monday.
Blog
End Taxpayer Funded Union Jobs
Phoenix ends annual multi-million dollar taxpayer subsidy to government unions.
Blog
Senator Vitter Follows Proud Tradition of Fighting Against Union Violence
On June 26, 2014, Senator Vitter introduced a bill S. 2535 to amend the federal extortion statute named the Hobbs Act. Senator Vitter is to…
Blog
Harris v. Quinn Gives Home Care Workers Renewed Opportunity to Get Back Compulsory Dues
When you can’t win, change the players. That was essentially the strategy pursued by government employee unions in recent years. This week, it came to…
Blog
Harris v. Quinn: A Human Interest Angle
The Harris v. Quinn decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court is a major human interest story.
Blog
Is Harris v. Quinn Decision Preview of Abood Challenge?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Harris v. Quinn puts a brake on an ongoing effort by organize labor to expand the definition of “public employee”…
Blog
Harris v. Quinn: A Human Interest Angle
The Harris v. Quinn decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court is a major human interest story. Congratulations to Pam Harris and her son, Josh, and family…
CNN
Supreme Court narrowly limits reach of labor unions
The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, however, celebrated the ruling as a major victory. "This decision delivers a major blow to the coercive powers…
News Release
Supreme Court Labor Decision a Blow to Unions, Win for First Amendment
Contact: Christine Hall, 202-331-2258 CEI Experts Say Supreme Court Labor Decision a Blow to Unions, Win for First Amendment Comments on…
News Release
Supreme Court Labor Decision a Blow to Unions, Win for First Amendment
CEI Experts Say Supreme Court Labor Decision a Blow to Unions, Win for First Amendment Comments on Today's Ruling in Harris v. Quinn…
Blog
What’s at Stake in Monday’s SCOTUS Decision on Harris v. Quinn
This Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide Harris v. Quinn, as one of the court’s last two decisions to be handed…
Blog
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Obama NLRB Recess Appointments Unconstitutional
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court made its ruling in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning. In a 9-0 vote, all justices ruled that President…
Blog
SEIU’s Illegal Plan to Unionize Small Businesses Imposes Heavy Costs
The SEIU has a nefarious new plan to unionize small businesses: classify franchisees as big businesses.
Blog
For Working Families, Joining a Union Can Be a Short-Term Fix that Causes Long-Term Harm
In a meeting strangely reminiscent of the Legion of Doom, the Obama White House, the ultra-Progressive Department of Labor, and the liberal Center for American…
Blog
Paycheck Protection in Pennsylvania Passes First Test
Paycheck Protection in Pennsylvania is finally on the move. On June 23, the bill, which would end the use of government resources to collect political…
Blog
Modern Day Organized Labor Desperately Needs Reform
When the average American thinks of a labor union, they might envision hard working, blue-collar workers who are pushing for reasonable wages, safe working conditions,…
The Hill's Congress Blog
Republicans sell out free-market principles for union favors
Co-authored with CEI Research Associate Matthew La Corte. The Norwegians are coming!” That’s hardly a call to send Americans scurrying to the barricades. But if…
Blog
Union Leaders Ignore Labor History, Double Down on Partisan Politics
Samuel Gompers was the first president of the American Federation of Labor and thus one of the most important labor leaders in American history. On…
Blog
Big Labor Wants to Teach Us a Lesson
Progressives and those on the extreme left probably don’t worry about unions pushing labor history courses in their kids’ schools. But the rest of us…
Blog
Partisanship Is Ruining the NLRB
Previously in a post on The Hill's Congress Blog, I noted that Congress intended the members of the National Labor Relations Board to be "impartial"…
Blog
Liberal Defense of Unions Fails
David Macaray might just be the perfect example of a leftist who doesn’t understand economics.
Blog
60 House Republicans Vote in Favor of Union Subsidy
In light of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Internal Revenue Service scandals, many Republican congressmen have come out against the practice known as union…
Blog
WorkplaceChoice Video Interview Series Premiere: Cyndi Cunningham and Forced Unionization of Care Providers
Hey folks, as part of a Workplacechoice.org's video project we're putting together a series of interviews with experts in the labor policy field and those…
Blog
Survey of Federal Employees: Union Official Time Wastes Taxpayer Funds
As often stated on this blog, union official time is a wasteful, massive subsidy to federal-employee unions. And somewhat surprisingly, according to FedSmith.com survey many…
Blog
Judge Rejects United Farm Workers Contract that Prohibited Decertification Elections
A major problem with current labor law is inherited unions. Research done by the Center for Union Facts has found that less than 10 percent…
Blog
Progressive Department of Labor Joins Fight against Home Care Workers
As I have said before, President Obama’s Department of Labor is a prime example of activist bureaucracy. The department’s latest escapade has been to support…
Newsmax
CEI’s John Berlau: US Needs ‘Rational’ Immigration Program
Newsmax insider John Berlau, Newsmax insider and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Newsmax on Monday he feels the wave of undocumented children…
Blog
Receipt Shows What Is Wrong with the Minimum Wage
In a previous post, I noted that Seattle's proposed minimum wage was already having a negative impact on job creation and that Chicago should be…
Blog
Ridesharing Wars: Uber, Regulators, and the “California Compromise”
Yesterday, as many in the D.C. metro area are aware, Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles sent cease-and-desist letters to Uber (PDF) and Lyft…
Blog
Right-to-Work Laws Necessary for Worker Freedom
Thirty-three fire fighters are being laid off in Reno, Nevada, after the city lost a federal grant. One of Reno’s councilmen, Dwight Dortch, charges that…
Blog
UAW Hikes Union Dues 25 percent
On Monday June 2, the UAW's four-day constitutional convention commenced. And coming out of the convention is a really unpopular decision to increase union dues…
Blog
When Hedge Funds Meet Pension Funds
Are hedge funds dangerous? Depends on who you ask — and where you look. For most investors, they’re no riskier than other assets — just…
Blog
Updated: Ohio Union Release Time
Union release time is a subsidy to public-employee unions at the state and local level, but the cost and activities are rarely available for public…
Blog
Most Transparent Administration History Won’t Release Cost of Union Subsidy
U.S. citizens should easily be able to find out how their tax dollars are spent by the federal government. Yet under the Obama administration, the…
Blog
Union Deauthorization and Recertification Gains Employees Freedom in the Workplace
In today’s highly fluid workforce, employees require the freedom to associate or disassociate with labor unions in a timely manner. But for disgruntled union employees,…
Blog
Airline Pilots Union’s Questionable Ad Campaign against Low-Cost Foreign Airline
In a previous post, I document labor unions and their history of advocating for discriminatory policies like the Davis-Bacon Act and Project Labor Agreements.
Blog
The Doctor Will Release You Now: How Official Time Contributed to the VA Scandal
Socialized medicine and union corruption are a potent combination and, in the case of the VA, a deadly one. The VA scandal has brought the…
Blog
The NLRB and the Department of Labor: Exemplars of Activist Bureaucracy
When one thinks of American bureaucracy, notions of political neutrality, professionalism, and disinterested arbitration come to mind. Well, maybe not… but at least those are…
Blog
33 House Republicans Join ALPA to Restrict Competition and Soak Consumers
I previously wrote about the campaign from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) against Norwegian Air International's (NAI) attempt to offer low-cost flights from the U.S.
Blog
Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Already Hurting Businesses
What did they think would happen? Seattle is likely to lift its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The move, supported by leftists and labor…
Blog
Federal Government Mismanagement and Union Official Time
Mismanagement within the federal government may not be at an all-time high, but it is close. The latest blunder is the Department of Veterans Affairs…
Blog
Unions Gain Obamacare Exemptions after Complaining about Lack of Privileges
The Obama administration is exempting many labor unions from provisions of the new health care law after all.
Blog
How State Governments Can Stay in the Black
A study by the University of California, Berkeley’s Sarah F. Anzia and Stanford University’s Terry M. Moe finds that public sector unions greatly increase costs…
Blog
CEI Labor and Employment Scorecard: Insourcing Amendment to Intelligence Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in its consideration of the Intelligence Authorization Act…
Blog
CEI Labor and Employment Scorecard: Insourcing Amendment to Intelligence Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in its consideration of the Intelligence Authorization Act…
Blog
21 Chicago Aldermen Introduce $15 Minimum Wage Bill
Proponents of a government-imposed wage hike in Chicago are gaining steam. On May 28, 21 of the city's 50 council members signed on as co-sponsors…
Blog
Chattanooga Mayor Berke Delivers City Employees to SEIU
In today's Chattanooga Times Free Press, Matt Patterson, executive director at the Center for Worker Freedom, draws attention to the behind the scenes deal between…
Blog
NLRB Rules That Employees Have the Right to Be Disrespectful to Fellow Employees
The NLRB has ruled, once again, that a company’s employee handbook cannot require its employees to be courteous to fellow employees.
Blog
How Policy Makers Should Approach Google’s Driverless Shuttles
Yesterday, Chris Urmson, director of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project, wrote a post for the company blog describing Google’s newest prototype: fully automated vehicles that…
Blog
Phoenix Ends Pension Spiking
Most state constitutions contain a little-used provision known as the "gift clause," which prohibit certain public expenditures to private entities. Unfortunately, only the Goldwater Institute,…
Blog
Do Home Care Workers Really Rely on Unions?
Ai-Jen Poo has made the case that home care workers benefit from union representation:…
Blog
CEI Labor Scorecard: National Defense Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government, will score a vote…
Mass Live
Boston taxi drivers’ union to protest ride sharing service Uber
Services like Uber and Lyft upset cab drivers because they challenge the longtime status quo that has devolved into a cartel that limits innovation and…
Blog
IRS Employees Conducting Union Activity Costs Taxpayers $23.5 Million in FY 2013
Union "official time" is a massive taxpayer subsidy to government unions, which releases federal employees from their regular public duty, without suffering loss of pay,…
Blog
Congress Must End Department of Transportation’s Abuse of “Unfair and Deceptive Practices” Authority
The Department of Transportation is opening a rulemaking proceeding to, among other things, require airlines and ticket agents to include ancillary fees (for, e.g.,…
Blog
CEI Labor Scorecard: National Defense Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government, will score a vote…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 20, 2014: Phones on a Plane
CEI Fellow Marc Scribner supports the FCC's attempt to lift a ban on in-flight cell phone use.
Blog
A Recipe for a Hostile Work Environment, Courtesy of the NLRB
The NLRB has forced the Fund for the Public Interest to reinstate one of its terminated union employees after the employee went to a local…
Blog
NLRB Okays Union Campaign Deception
A responsibility of the National Labor Relations Board is to protect employees' right to a free and fair choice of labor representatives. Given that, it…
Blog
Failed Obamacare Exchanges and No-Work Contracts Drive up Obamacare Costs
Politico tallies the rising costs for "four failed Obamacare exchanges," reporting: Nearly half a billion dollars in federal money has been spent developing four …
Blog
Missouri Union Protests by Placing Giant, Inflatable Rat by Funeral Home
I wish I was making that up, but Laborers Union Local 110 actually placed a huge, inflatable rat in front of the Kutis Funeral Home…
Blog
Insurance Premiums Rising More Due to Obamacare
There are "rate hikes for all" coming due to Obamacare, predicts The Daily Caller, citing state insurance filings: Virginians will see upped health insurance premiums…
Blog
Unionization Obstructs Workplace Diversity
Executive editor at The Nation, Richard Kim, claims diversity at the liberal publication is being stifled due to its unionized workforce. Kim, in a recent…
Blog
EPW Drops Highway Bill Nothing Burger, Attempts to Bail Out Sinking Ship with Leaking Bucket
Yesterday evening, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee’s “big four” (Democrats Barbara Boxer and Tom Carper, and Republicans David Vitter…
Blog
Maryland Unions Asks Politicians for Donations
Hollywood is currently reviving Star Wars, a classic 1970s series. Perhaps they should revive another 1970s series, The Godfather, with a fourth film centered on…
Blog
PA Unions Still Exempt from Harassment, Continue Harassing with Impunity
A couple of months ago, the FBI unsealed an indictment against a combination of 10 Philadelphia Ironworkers members and officials, which exposed a loophole in…
Blog
Gawker Article Says “Unions Should Buy a Fast Food Franchise”
But would workers really be better off if a union owned a fast-food franchise or any other kind of business? Gawker author Hamilton Nolan thinks…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 8, 2014: The Future of Self-Driving Cars
Marc Scribner talks about his new paper, "Self-Driving Regulation."…
Blog
Air Line Pilots Association Launches Super-Xenophobic Ad against Low-Cost Foreign Airline
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently considering whether or not it will honor its EU-U.S. open skies treaty in the case of Norwegian Air…
Blog
UAW Teams Up with Big Brother
The UAW wants to organize a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, and has asked the State Department to mediate its discussions with the auto maker,…
Blog
OPM Director Archuleta Promotes Public Service Recognition Week, Quiet on Federal Employees Performing Union Business
Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuelta is one of several high-level bureaucrats that are promoting Public Service Recognition Week, and will participate in a…
Blog
Washington, D.C., Imposes One Percent Obamacare Health Insurance Tax
The costs of Obamacare keep rising. The Council of the District of Columbia has imposed a one percent tax on all health insurance policies…
Blog
California Hospital Association Submits to SEIU Demands, Signs “Labor Peace Agreement”
On May 5, 2014, after months of applying public pressure on the California Hospital Association, the SEIU-UHW won its coveted "labor peace agreement," which would…
Blog
Labor/Employment Scorecard Now Includes Votes on David Weil to Head DoL’s Wage and Hour Division
In our scorecard of the United States Senate’s labor and employment votes, CEI's WorkplaceChoice.org has included voting on the movement of David Weil’s confirmation…
Blog
The NLRB Strikes Again
The NLRB has just forced nine Brooklyn condo workers to continue another year’s payment of union dues after they attempted to de-certify their union (United…
Blog
Voxplaining Pew Charts on Highway Funding and Ignoring Transit’s Decline
Over at Vox.com, former WaPo blogger Brad Plumer wrote a post about highway funding, largely relying on the good folks over at the Pew…
Blog
Warren Buffett: “During the next decade, you will read a lot of news – bad news – about public pension plans.”
Thus warns Warren Buffett in his latest message to investors, part of Berkshire Hathaway's annual report. And when the Oracle of Omaha speaks, most of…
Blog
UAW Continues VW Unionization Campaign, Violates Neutrality Agreement
Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted against UAW representation in February. But the UAW still hasn't gotten the message.
Blog
Minnesota Law Gives Public the Cold Shoulder
Minnesota’s Government Data Practices Law allows Minnesota public agencies to charge for public information that many other states give out for free. According to section…
Blog
SEIU Deploys Top-Down Organizing Tactics against California Hospitals
Labor unions no longer gain worker support prior to kicking off organizing campaigns. Now they find it much easier to apply public pressure and intimidate…
Blog
Finally Free to Leave SEIU, Michigan Home Care Workers Do Exactly That
Michigan becoming the nation's 24th right to work state in 2012 appeared to pose a challenge to major industrial private sector unions like United Auto…
Blog
Congressional Scorecard Update: Minimum Wage Fairness Act of 2014
Today, the Minimum Wage Fairness Act of 2014, a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, failed to gain enough support…
Blog
Sketchy Super PACs
The labor battle in Missouri is becoming supersized because of union super PACs. Unions can support politicians (just Democrats, of course) and policies through super…
Blog
This Minimum Wage Hike Will Kill Jobs
The key thing you need to know about a minimum wage hike is that it will kill jobs. About 80 percent of economists surveyed…
Blog
Congressional Scorecard Update: Confirmation of David Weil to Wage and Hour Division
On April 28, 2014, the U.S. Senate confirmed another ardent Big Labor supporter, David Weil, to serve as the administrator of the Wage and Hour…
Blog
Google’s Self-Driving Cars Approach 700,000 Miles of Crash-Free Driving
In a report released last week for CEI, I noted that developers need to be able to demonstrate automated vehicle safety benefits in order…
Blog
Education or Indoctrination?
Bills are being introduced in Connecticut and Illinois that would require school curriculum to teach the history of the labor movement.
Blog
A Victory for Taxpayers and Equal Protection: Supreme Court Upholds Michigan’s Proposal 2
Taxpayers of all races pay more when government contracts are doled out based on race, rather than awarded to the lowest bidder. That's one reason…
Blog
California Labor Board Obstructing Farm Workers Union Decertification Bid
Outdated labor law has led to the problem of inherited unions. Research done by the Center for Union Facts has found that less than 10…
Blog
Driverless Cars, Innovation, and Regulation: Let’s Not Mess it Up
CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in Google’s self-driving car. (Photo by Marc Scribner) For the past several years, I’ve been…
Blog
UAW Drops Volkswagen Union Election Appeal
Remember when the United Auto Workers lost in a unionization vote at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and filed an appeal to overturn the…
Human Events
Big Labor’s Privileged Position
Today, an important hearing gets underway in Washington, D.C. that started with a billboard. Well, not quite. But that phrasing makes for better copy. Hearings…