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
DC Journal
This Labor Day, Respect the Right to Join (or Not) a Union
Labor Day was created to celebrate all the Americans who work to support their families. The least the government can do in return is…
News Release
US economy adds 162,000 jobs in August, higher than expected: CEI analysis
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report for August shows the economy added 162,000 jobs, higher than economists predicted. While the news is a…
Blog
The ‘no hire, no fire’ era is starting to crack
Families gathering around the barbeque next Monday to celebrate the national day off from work will probably be grilling more hot dogs and cheap…
Search Posts
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.
Washington Examiner
EEOC Says Its Background Checks Irrelevant
The government further argued that it would "dangerous" for the court to require that it turn over the policy since that would open up EEOC…
Forbes
A Win For Philly’s Financial Future
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission showed true grit Monday when it made the politically risky move of asking public sector teachers—just like the vast…
Blog
New Employment Data May Give Clues to Why Recovery Is Stuck in First Gear
The good news for workers is that the labor market is growing and the economy shows signs of improvement. The unemployment rate is down to…
Blog
CEI Awards Pro-Worker Senators
Senators with 100% Labor & Employment Scorecard Ratings Honored at Hill Event…
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
Federal Government Granted $157 Million Subsidy to Government Unions in FY 2012
When someone is paid to perform services, it should not be considered volunteer work.
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
The NLRB Forces CNN to Rehire Workers Terminated Over a Decade Ago
CNN is appealing a recent ruling from the National Labor Relations Board which forces CNN to hire back workers from a temp agency known as…
Blog
CalPERS Abandons “Hail Mary” Investment Strategy – About Time
CalPERS knows when to fold ‘em. The California Public Employee Retirement System, the nation’s largest public pension fund (and one of the world’s largest), announced…
Blog
Will the NLRB’s McDonald’s Decision Destroy Franchise System or Make Companies More Accountable?
That was the question at the center of a September 9 House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing, which was held in response to…
Blog
New Mexico Workers and Industry Would Benefit from Right to Work
Albuquerque Business First reports that New Mexico could become one of the next right-to-work (RTW) battlegrounds depending on upcoming election results, where Republicans could reclaim…
News Release
CEI Honors 27 Senators with “Champion of the Worker” Awards
For Immediate Release Contact: Annie Dwyer, 202-331-2765 Christine Hall, 202-331-2777 CEI Honors 27 Senators with…
Blog
CEI Awards Pro-Worker Legislators
As we did last Congress, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has produced our Labor and Employment Policy Scorecard for this 113th Congress on our labor website,…
News Release
CEI Honors 29 House Lawmakers with “Champion of the Worker” Awards
For Immediate Release Contact: Annie Dwyer, 202-331-2765 Christine Hall, 202-331-2258 CEI Honors 29 House Lawmakers with “Champion of the Worker” Awards…
Blog
IRS Plays Favorites
The Daily Caller News Foundation has found an email from Lois Lerner which contrasts her apathy towards misreported political spending by labor unions with her…
Blog
Feds Apply Double Standards against Private Employers
Government contractors could face a financial death sentence over labor law, civil-rights law, or wage-and-hour law violations under a recent Obama executive order I discussed…
Blog
Professional Associations Raise Workers’ Wages More than Unions
Almost every American knows the feelings of excitement and relief that come from getting that brand new job.
Blog
How to Raise All Worker Wages
With Labor Day approaching, it is a suitable time to examine which public policies promote economic growth that leads to job creation and wage increases.
Blog
Judge: NLRB Acting as “Litigation Arm” of SEIU
A federal judge in Pittsburgh has reprimanded the National Labor Relations Board for its heavy-handed and questionable treatment of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in…
Blog
Obama “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Executive Order Will Punish Firms in Pro-Worker States
Earlier, we discussed President Obama’s recent Executive Order 13,673, which “will allow trial lawyers to extort larger settlements from companies, and enable bureaucratic agencies to extract …
Blog
Better Wages and Lower Cost of Living in California Depend on Better Understanding of Economics
A San Francisco teacher’s union is threatening a strike because proposed wage increases won’t be sufficient to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living.
Blog
Many Unions Put Politics over Representation of Their Members
A few recent stories have shown how unions often value partisan political activities over fair representation of their members.
Blog
Duplicative New Affirmative-Action Rule Drives Up Taxpayer Costs and Restricts Competition
Does it make sense to require a park campground operator that has a few hundred employees at 120 different locations to come up with 120…
CNS News
Executive Order 13673 Pressures Employers to Capitulate to Baseless Demands and Meritless Claims
A July 31 executive order from President Obama will make it very costly for employers to challenge dubious allegations of wrongdoing against them, if they…
Blog
Union President Threatens Opponents of Common Core with Violence
When unions get involved in political debates, it gets ugly fast. For example, the SEIU is known to bus hundreds of protesters to private residences…
Blog
Celebrate National Employee Freedom Week
National Employee Freedom Week, which started August 10 and runs until August 16, is a countrywide effort by 70 groups in 41 states that's goal…
Human Events
Business Vs. Labor is Really About Cooperation Vs. Confrontation
It’s an age old struggle—more often rhetorical than physical. Usually framed as business vs. labor, it’s really about cooperation vs. confrontation. Since humans could walk…
Blog
Homecare Workers Freed from Big Labor’s Greed
Homecare workers in three states have finally been liberated from something they should never have experienced in the first place: paying dues to government unions…
Watchdog Wire
Report: Governments Mask Pension Debt, May Put Taxpayers At Risk
The Competitive Enterprise Institute's report, "Understanding Public Pension Debt" was featured by Nevada's Watchdog Wire: A new report once again sheds light…
Blog
Jefferson Federation of Teachers Proposes Union-Friendly Contract
In the past two years, the Jefferson Federation of Teachers (JFT) and Jefferson Parish public school system have tried, unsuccessfully, to come to terms on…
Free Beacon
Report: Government Accounting Hides Debt
Article by Bill McMorris Your state may not be as fiscally solvent as politicians have led you to believe, according to a new…
Blog
NLRB McDonald’s Decision Hurts Small Businesses, Diminishes Opportunities for Everyday Americans
The NLRB’s General Counsel Richard F. Griffin Jr. found merit in 43 of 181 unfair labor practice complaints made against McDonald’s in the last 20…
Blog
Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Gov. Scott Walker’s Collective Bargaining Reform
Since 2011, Governor Scott Walker’s signature public-sector collective bargaining reform has withstood venomous union protests at the state capitol, fleeing state legislators, and sparked a…
Blog
The Case for Repealing the Davis-Bacon Act
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is making the case for repealing the Depression-era Davis-Bacon Act. The law, passed in 1931, bars contractors and subcontractors from paying…
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…
Products
Study: Collective Bargaining Slows Economic Growth, Lowers Wages
Collective bargaining may not be the boon for workers that labor unions claim it is, according to a new study. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI),…
Study
The Unintended Consequences of Collective Bargaining
With high levels of unionization and no right-to-work laws, union presence has cost individuals more than $10,000 in income over the last 50 years…
Washington Examiner
Study Estimates Unionization Cost Workers in Some States $11,000
Heavy unionization cost the average worker in Michigan about $11,000 over the last 50 years. It cost workers in Nevada about…
News Release
CEI Report Finds Unionization Costs Individuals More Than $10,000 in Some States
New CEI Report Finds Unionization Costs Individuals More Than $10,000 in Some States Big Labor Holding Back Employee Wages and State Economic…
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
Kentucky Teachers Union Demands Pay Raise to Perform Union Business
Contract negotiations between Jefferson County Public Schools and its teachers union have hit an impasse. Union officials want more than the state-mandated 1-percent raise, which…
Blog
House Hearing Highlights Problems in the Fair Labor Standards Act
The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing yesterday that focused on the troubled regulatory structure of…
Blog
Risky Public Pension Plans Unsafe for Taxpayers, Bad for Business Growth
In new analysis published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, economist Robert Sarvis ranks states based on the severity of their unfunded pension liabilities, and explains…
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…
Blog
Labor and Employment Scorecard: Pension Smoothing as a “Pay-For” in Highway and Transportation Funding Act
On July 15, 2014, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) scored U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Vote #414 on final passage of the Highway and…
Blog
Labor and Employment Scorecard: Pension Smoothing as a “Pay-For” in Highway and Transportation Funding Act
On July 15, 2014, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) scored U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Vote #414 on final passage of the Highway and…
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…
News Release
State Right-to-Work Laws Show Real Payoffs for Wages and Economic Growth, Study Finds
WASHINGTON, July 16 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released the second installment in CEI’s three-part series, The High Cost of Big Labor, that…
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…
The National Review
How the High Costs of Public-Sector Pensions Affect States’ Economic Growth
Today my colleagues and I on the labor team at the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the first installment in CEI’s new three-part series ”The High…
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…
Staff & Scholars
Sean Higgins
Research Fellow
- Deregulation
- Labor and Employment
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Ivan Osorio
Editorial Director
- Labor and Employment
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International