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
Blog
Controversial NLRB General Counsel Nomination Vote Approaching
Now that the partial government shutdown is over, its back to business as usual. As such, the Senate will tackle the controversial nomination of Richard…
Blog
More than a Third of House Dems Oppose Obama’s American-US Airways Merger Lawsuit; What Real Pro-Competition Policy Looks Like
Bipartisan opposition to the Obama administration’s reckless assault on the pending merger of American Airlines and US Airways is growing. While the end of the…
Blog
More Myths About the Government Shutdown
Young people often don't realize that government shutdowns used to be common, until the middle of the Clinton administration. The George W. Bush presidency was an exception…
Blog
Boston Bus Drivers Illegal Strike
On October 8, hundreds of Boston Public School union bus drivers went on a surprise strike, which left nearly 33,000 kids without a ride to…
Blog
Obama Administration Memo: Keep Paying Union Bosses on Official Time
Over the weekend, the House unanimously passed the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act. If passed by the Senate, all furloughed federal employees will receive…
Citation
Labor analyst: Volkswagen workers claim ‘misled’ by UAW
Matt Patterson, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the issue is important because, if it’s true, it would “significantly compromise” the union’s chances…
Blog
NYC Rubber Rooms Still Packed
Just three years ago, New York City Mayor Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers publicly heralded a deal to end "rubber rooms," the reassignment…
Blog
California Labor Board Rejects Farm Workers’ Petition to Decertify Union
On September 25, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board denied a petition submitted by Gerawan Farming workers to decertify the United Farm Workers union.
Blog
Farm Workers Resist Union Representation
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board show that less than 10 percent of employees actually voted for their…
Blog
Labor Department Imposes Disability Hiring Quotas, Even in Divisions that Don’t Get Federal Contracts
The Obama Labor Department has just finalized rules that will effectively require businesses that get federal contracts to adopt a 7 percent hiring quota for the…
Free Beacon
IBEW Criticizes EPA’s New Coal Emission Standards
“The unions oppose President Obama’s new coal rule for a simple reason: It’s terrible for the economy,” said William Yeatman, an energy policy expert at…
Blog
Private Lobbyists and Public Pensions Don’t Mix
Government officials mismanaging public funds is nothing new. But giving public pensions to private lobbyists is a new low. A recent Associated Press report uncovered…
Blog
Private lobbyists collecting public pensions is illegal gift
State and local pension funds face unfunded liabilities ranging from $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to various reports. This is well-known problem and many…
Free Beacon
CEI’s Patterson: Right-to-Work Laws Represent ‘Common Sense’
Matt Patterson, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is a strong advocate of states with right-to-work laws. These laws…
Blog
Worker Centers Collecting Federal Funds
This summer, worker centers gained public notoriety with staged strikes at fast-food restaurants and Wal-Mart. Their effectiveness in gaining media attention has not been lost…
Providence Journal
Private lobbyists collecting public pensions is illegal gift
State and local pension funds face unfunded liabilities ranging from $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to various reports. This is well-known problem and many…
Blog
DOL Finalizes Companionship Rule
With little notice, on September 17, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez finalized a rule to extend the Fair Labor Standards Act--minimum wage and overtime protections--to nearly…
Blog
More Harm from “Disparate Impact” Regulations
Earlier, we wrote about the Obama administration’s attempt to inject a race-conscious “disparate impact” provision into colorblind anti-discrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act,…
Providence Journal
Wisconsin teachers union decertified in latest blow to labor under Walker law
But Matt Patterson, labor analyst with the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, claimed the vote was a sign that workers were turning their backs on…
Blog
Third Largest Wisconsin Teachers Union Members Exercise New Freedom
This week Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's government-sector collective bargaining reform was upheld in Federal District Court.
Providence Journal
UAW hopes to get recognition at Chattanooga VW plant without vote
Anti-union groups are already openly fighting the UAW’s move to organize at the plant. One, the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, even put a message on…
Blog
Update on American Airlines-US Airways Merger: Judge Approves American’s Bankruptcy Plan
Today, Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved American Airlines’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy protection,…
Providence Journal
UAW says most Chattanooga workers want union while opponents fear the worst, call for secret ballot
But, Matt Patterson, senior fellow for the Center for Economic Freedom at the Washington, D.C.-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he’s skeptical the UAW even has…
News Release
D.C. Mayor Rightly Vetoes Union-Backed Wage Bill
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a union-backed bill that would have levied an especially high minimum…
News Release
Kenosha Teachers Vote Down Union, Empowered by Wisconsin Labor Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, teachers in Kenosha, Wis., voted to decertify their union, the Kenosha Education Association, by a margin of nearly…
Blog
D.C. Agrees to Costly Project Labor Agreement
It is well-documented that Project Labor Agreements drive up costs, by some estimates up to 12 to 18 percent. This is because PLA's subvert competitive…
Blog
SEIU Celebrates Siphoning Millions from Home Care Providers
A SEIU Healthcare Illinois-Indiana press release announced an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first organizing win over home care providers. According to…
Blog
Longshore Union’s Exit from AFL-CIO Illustrates Bad Feature of U.S. Labor Law
The largest longshoremen’s union in the West Coast has decided to leave the AFL-CIO. While this may be an internecine organized labor fight, it…
Blog
Louisville Subsidizes Union Activity
A plague on taxpayer funds known as union release time infects nearly every state and municipal government coffers. This inappropriate government expenditure/practice excuses public employees…
Blog
New Estimate: Public Pensions Underfunded by $4.1 Trillion
One of the challenges in addressing the underfunding of public pensions is determining how big the funding gaps are. Estimates vary because of disagreement over…
Blog
Scholars React to President’s Call to Shrink Law School from Three Years to Two
We earlier discussed (and agreed with) President Obama’s suggestion that law schools cut their length of study to two years from the current three…
Human Events
Entrepreneurial Immigrants: America’s Lifeblood
It’s a story as American as apple pie: An immigrant comes to the United States, starts a business and becomes the proud owner of a…
Human Events
Volkswagen and UAW Are Getting Cozier, but Will They Ultimately Match Up?
The UAW also remains staunchly opposed over any aims in Chattanooga by politicians in Tennessee, a conservative redoubt where much of the opposition to the Detroit…
Human Events
VW and UAW meet over U.S plant, report says
Critics argue that the union’s bargaining style is partly to blame for the recent struggles of Detroit’s automakers. One anti-union group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
Big Labor Public Outrage Pays Dividends
In what should not be much of a surprise, the Obama administration is looking to quell labor leaders complaints over Obamacare by offering them taxpayer…
Blog
By Opposing Airline Merger, Obama Risks Wrath of Powerful Unions
When the Department of Justice unexpectedly filed suit to block the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, I noted that unions representing various workers…
Blog
Honoring Entry-Level Positions
Today, as has been publicized for weeks now, fast-food workers across the country are expected to walk off the their jobs. The union organized movement…
Huffington Post
Don’t Let Entrepreneurs Become a Casualty of the Immigration Impasse
Eberhard Anheuser came to America as a soap and candle maker in 1842. When he died, his company had pioneered the pasteurization of beer. Marcus…
Huffington Post
Activists and workers protest minimum wage and working conditions at fast food restaurants across Boston
Critics of the fast food protest movement say that the minimum wage was never meant to support a family and that the government should not…
Study
America Still Needs a True Entrepreneurship Visa
Immigrant entrepreneurs have long helped drive America’s economy. However, bureaucratic restrictions make coming to America to start a new business extremely difficult, and the current…
News Release
America Needs More Immigrant Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 28, 2013 – As Labor Day approaches, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is spotlighting one of the hardest working groups of…
Blog
Playing Politics with Public Pensions
Many public pension plans around the nation are severely underfunded. The 2008 financial crisis, which wiped out many pension investments, has focused the public’s and…
Blog
Lobbyists at the State Public Trough
Who is a public employee? The answer to that should be simple: Someone who works directly for a government entity. But in 20 states, the…
Blog
Union Special Privilege Under Scrutiny
In response to a Miami Herald report, a Miami-Dade County Commissioner is sponsoring legislation to eliminate or reduce the practice of allowing government employees…
Blog
President Obama: Cut Law School from Three Years to Two
President Obama, a lawyer who once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago, recently urged law schools to reduce the length of study from three years…
Blog
Big Labor versus the Obama Administration
In the 2012 federal election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 91 percent of labor unions campaign funds went to Democrats. One would…
Blog
Court Strikes Down another Obama NLRB appointment
If you cant' get legislation through Congress, then make policy through regulation. Until the courts get in the way. The former has been the Obama administration's…
Blog
Fast Food Workers Should Be Wary of Union Tactics
A Big Labor backed coalition is calling for a nationwide strike among fast-food workers on August 29. The walkout is part of a larger campaign,…
Blog
Worker Centers Need Oversight
In response to Rep. John Kline and Phil Roe’s letter to the Department of Labor asking for a determination whether or not “worker centers” should…
Blog
Detroit’s Pension Fight: Coming to a City Near You?
The bankruptcy of Detroit is an unusual event, but its uniqueness lies mainly in its severity. Municipal governments across the nation are struggling to bring…
Huffington Post
United Auto Workers fairy tales
Once upon a time, in Chattanooga a young girl made her way to work, picking flowers to add to her basket of posies which she…
Blog
Labor Unions Blast Obama’s American Airlines-US Airways Merger Lawsuit
Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed suit to block the planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I…
Blog
Labor Department Meddles in California Transit Dispute
California public transit unions seem to have found a new, powerful bargaining tactic: If you don’t get your way in the legislature, threaten your state’s…
Blog
3 Things You May Not Know about the US Airways-American Airlines Merger Lawsuit
On Tuesday, August 13, the Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia filed suit to block the planned $11 billion merger…
Blog
Let in More Foreign Doctors to Fix Looming Shortage of Physicians Aggravated by Obamacare
“Bring on the foreign doctors,” writes Slate’s Brian Palmer: If President Obama’s health care reform plan is implemented in its current form, the United…
Blog
ALEC Puts Forth Ideas for State Pension Reform
Public awareness of the scope of the state public pension crisis seems to be growing every day. That's a welcome development, in that it has…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 15, 2013: Justice Department Blocks Airline Merger
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner thinks the charges are overblown, and has ideas of his own for increasing competition.
Blog
Federal Income-Based Repayment Plan Encourages Skyrocketing Law School Tuition
A recent item in The Washington Post explains "how Georgetown Law gets Uncle Sam to pay its students’ bills," averaging $158,888 over three years,…
Cleveland
NLRB, Now With All Members Confirmed by Senate, Begins First Week Reviewing Labor Cases
This week marked the first in a decade in which all five National Labor Relations Board members were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. . .
Blog
Florida’s Unwrapped Gift to Taxpayers
People who don’t do their jobs are usually held accountable, right? Not if you work for Miami-Dade County. Robert Akras, a Miami-Dade County property surveyor…
Blog
Senate Immigration Bill Authorizes E-Verify as Surveillance Tracking
The Senate immigration bill (S. 744) is immense, so most Americans (and, more importantly, journalists) can be forgiven for missing the part that authorizes…
Blog
Not Going Gently: Rogue NLRB Lands One More Blow
For the first time in a decade, the National Labor Relations Board is composed of five legitimately appointed members. However, one of the last decisions…
Cleveland
Uber Wars
Instead of playing favorites with existing cab services that are resistant to change, city officials should encourage competition, Matt Patterson, a labor-policy analyst with the…
Blog
Senate NLRB Deal Backfires on GOP…Again
Just over a week ago, Democrats suckered Republicans into a deal to avert what Senator Harry Reid referred to as the “nuclear option” that would…
Blog
The Misleading Push for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Last year, the Senate did not ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with supporters falling just short of the two-thirds…
Blog
‘Universal’ Health Care Universally Loathed
Once upon a time labor unions and all their Labor Bosses loved Obamacare. But not anymore. Unions are slowly opening their eyes and accepting the…
Blog
Raul Labrador’s Sane Immigration Policy Reflects His “Libertarian Streak”
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) has led the effort in the House to fix immigration laws in the most conservative and free market way possible.
Blog
Detroit Bankruptcy Focuses Attention on Public Pensions
For people watching it from afar, the bankruptcy of Detroit — the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history — may have brought a sense of…
Blog
Meet the New Boss(es): NLRB Nominees Clear Senate
Well, it's official: We finally have a fully staffed National Labor Relations Board. On July 30 the Senate, as part of a deal worked out…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes (And 5 Worker Protections it Excludes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 5 Worker Protections it Excludes (And 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
Blog
Not Lovin’ It: Angry Fast Food Workers Strike
"Hold the burgers, hold the fries, make our wages supersize!" This is one of the many chants shouted by the thousands of fast food workers…
Blog
Big Labor and NLRB Tactics Evolve
With total union membership at its lowest rate since 1916, Big Labor is desperate to organize non-union workers. Labor unions latest approach comes in the…
Blog
The Rip-Off that Is Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing rules allow trade schools in some states to force students to attend them, enabling the schools to charge students lots of tuition for…
Blog
Is the AFL-CIO Biting off More than it Can Chew?
Organized labor has long been a major force within the broader progressive coalition at the Democratic Party’s left wing. Unions regularly work with environmental and…
Blog
Empire of Rust: How the UAW Killed Detroit
On Detroit’s east side, the abandoned Packard automaking facility looms tomb-like over 40 acres of once-prime real estate, its hollow buildings ringed with mounds of…
News Release
IRS Employees on Obamacare: “Not For Me, Thanks”
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 26, 2013 – IRS employees aren’t big fans of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—at least, not as far as it concerns their…
Blog
CEI Podcast For July 25, 2013: The UAW And Chattanooga
The United Auto Workers union is campaigning to organize a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Senior Fellow Matt Patterson talks about his recent trip to…
Blog
More Economic Suffering Due to Obamacare
The Washington Post reports on the ever-growing number of people losing wages and facing pay cuts due to the 2010 healthcare law: For Kevin…
Blog
End Of Compulsory Dues Has Led To Plummeting Union Membership In Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker “can deny that he wanted to weaken public sector unions, but whatever his motivation, that’s what has happened.” Thus concluded an eye-opening…
Blog
California Close to Granting Big Labor Protections from Disclosure
California is going where only two other progressive bastions—Maryland and Illinois—have gone before in terms of providing unions with special privileges. If Assembly Bill 729…
Blog
Public Forum Re-cap: Chattanooga, UAW & Free Markets
WPC’s Matt Patterson was invited to speak at a public event about the possible costs and consequences Tennessee might face should the United Auto Workers…
Blog
D.C. Council Bows to UFCW, Votes No on Walmart, Yes to High Prices
Washington, D.C., has some of the highest living costs in the country. Its metro area contains six of the nation’s ten wealthiest counties, making it…
Blog
Motor City Runs Out of Gas
And here it is, the news we’ve all been expecting: The Motor City has finally sputtered to a halt. On Thursday July 18, 2013, the…
Blog
Time To Make Federal Employees Accountable
Government labor unions have long been able to conduct union business while on the job and on the taxpayer dime, under a little-known policy called…
Blog
The Million-Dollar Bus Stop Breaks
A new cooling fan should arrive in the next two weeks. Until then, the super stop will be a bus stop like any other, unless…
Cleveland
UAW slammed at forum on labor organization efforts at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen factory
The Chattanooga Volkswagen plant’s former head of manufacturing on Thursday hit the idea of unionizing the factory, saying the United Auto Workers would take employees…
Cleveland
Citizens For Free Markets To Host Free Public Forum To Discuss Costs Of Unionizing
Speakers will include Matt Patterson, labor specialist and senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Dr. Charles Van Eaton, labor economist and Don Jackson, former…
Blog
DC Super-Minimum Wage: Bad Idea, Bad Policy
Washington D.C. City Council’s bill that would require large retailers (namely Wal-Mart) to pay a super-minimum wage is not only bad public policy, but also…
Cleveland
Internet Myth: Ronald Reagan Regretted Legalization
Americans often bolster arguments with quotes from Founding Fathers or other U.S. political icons. Unfortunately, this practice often leads to quotes being invented to support…
Blog
Gallup: Record Opposition to Closed Borders
A record number of Americans favor allowing more foreigners to enter and live in the United States each year. Nearly a quarter of Americans (23…
Blog
Unions Plead for Changes to Obamacare, Citing Lost Wages and Benefits
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the leaders of three major labor unions are asking Congress to make fundamental changes to Obamacare, saying that without such changes, it will…
Cleveland
Anti-, pro-unionization efforts ramp up at Volkswagen
A labor project run by Matt Patterson, a senior fellow at the Washington D.C., nonprofit the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which advocates for “limited government,…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
Blog
Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Which Would Lead to Meritless Litigation and Erode Free Speech
A Senate Committee has voted 15-to-7 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, "a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis…
Blog
VMT Comes to Oregon
Since its inception, the Interstate Highway System has been universally revered for its scale and accessibility. But the primary funding mechanism which supports it, the…
Blog
Another Reason to Love the Sequester: Budget Cuts Prevent Agency from Destroying Valuable Computer Equipment
An agency unnecessarily destroyed $170,000 worth of computing hardware, and planned to destroy $3 million more, in response to garden-variety, easy-to-guard-against malware that…
Blog
Going Nowhere: Transit Workers’ Strike Immobilizes City
After scouring travel sites for hours, I finally found a great deal—the flight would land at the Oakland Airport (OAK) in the San Francisco Bay…
Cleveland
E-Verify Exposes The Hypocrisy In Republican Free Market Rhetoric
After he introduced the Regulatory Accountability Act, Rep. Lamar Smith summarized the GOP attitude on regulation since the Tea Party movement’s influential rise. “Employers across…
Blog
After 78 Years the NLRA Needs a Makeover
Last week marked the seventy-eighth anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing the National Labor Relations Act into law. In that time, it has become clear…
