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
News Release
April adds 177,000 jobs to economy, tariff policies yet to majorly shakeup labor market: CEI analysis
The job numbers for April show 177,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While job growth…
Blog
CEI suggests DOT put the brakes on train two-person crew rule
The Transportation Department recently asked the public for comments on how to reduce the regulatory burden. One thought that the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
News Release
Escalating trade war with China won’t fix the need for reform: CEI analysis
On Monday, China vowed to retaliate against nations that corporate with President Trump’s tariffs against Beijing, putting potential trade deals between the US and other…
Search Posts
Blog
Bureaucrat Busybodies Make Nobody Busy
Last Friday, the unemployment rate crept up to 7.9 percent. Ironically, this news came a day after members of the Council on…
Study
Official Time: Taxpayers paying for union work is officially a scam
Summary: Few Americans are aware that, through their tax dollars, they finance labor unions through a practice known as “official time” or “release time.” The…
Blog
Official Time: Taxpayers paying for union work is officially a scam
Capital Research Center Summary: Few Americans are aware that, through their tax dollars, they finance labor unions through a practice known as “official time” or…
Citation
Bill would halt taxpayer-funded union activism
Matt Patterson, a labor policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in Washington D.C., told Watchdog.org that the union racket attached to “official time”…
Blog
The New National Identification System Is Coming
“Maybe we should just brand all the babies.” With this joke, Ronald Reagan swatted down a national identification card -- or an enhanced Social Security…
Blog
CEI Podcast For January 31, 2013: The Recess Appointments That Weren’t
Federal judges recently struck down four recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the Senate was in pro forma session when President Obama…
Blog
“Right-To-Work” Train Rolls On: Next Stop, Pennsylvania?
The earthquake that was Michigan's right-to-work law has produced a number of interesting aftershocks, not least of which is the right-to-work rumbling in Pennsylvania where…
Blog
“Right-To-Work” Train Rolls On: Next Stop, Pennsylvania?
Openmarket.org The earthquake that was Michigan’s right-to-work law has produced a number of interesting aftershocks, not least of which is the right-to-work rumbling in Pennsylvania…
Blog
Unions Bad For Unions?
Openmarket.org Hard to believe, but even under the most union-friendly president since FDR, organized labor in America continues to shrink in numbers, popularity and…
Blog
LaHood Out At DOT, But Is There Hope For A Qualified Transportation Secretary?
After months of confusing double-talk on whether or not he would stay on in a second Obama term, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced he…
Blog
Unions Bad For Unions?
Hard to believe, but even under the most union-friendly president since FDR, organized labor in America continues to shrink in numbers, popularity and influence.
Blog
New Study Links Anti-Immigration Groups To Pro–Population Control Environmentalists
America's immigration debate is heating up, and conservatives anxious about liberal solutions to the issue are looking for answers of their own. Unfortunately, the major…
Blog
6 Ways To Improve The Senate’s Immigration Proposal
“We will ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not need to be revisited.” That’s from a…
Blog
‘Right-To-Work’ All Right In Indiana
Controversial anti-union laws continue to thrust the typically camera-shy Midwest into the national spotlight. On January 17, a federal judge shot down a union-driven lawsuit…
Blog
Obama Administration Thumbs Nose At Court Ruling On Separation Of Powers
Thumbing its nose at the federal courts, which ruled today President Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board last year were not…
Blog
It’s Official: Obama’s NLRB Appointments Unconstitutional
From the Duh! files: A federal appeals court has ruled that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate…
Blog
It’s Official: Obama’s NLRB Appointments Unconstitutional
Openmarket.org From the Duh! files: A federal appeals court has ruled that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to…
Blog
CEI Podcast For January 24, 2013: Gov. McDonnell’s Transportation Plan
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell recently released a headline-grabbing plan for the state's transportation funding that would abolish the state's gasoline tax and raise other taxes…
Blog
Adam Smith’s Recommendation To End Illegal Immigration
Restrictions on immigration have created a black market in labor and movement. Currently, the U.S. government issues only 10,000 green cards to workers who lack higher…
Blog
Walker, Wisconsin Ranger (Strikes Again)
Openmarket.org It’s almost too beautiful to believe. In this era of ever-expanding government power, of rising and risible rapacity in the federal Leviathan, can…
Blog
Walker, Wisconsin Ranger (Strikes Again)
It’s almost too beautiful to believe. In this era of ever-expanding government power, of rising and risible rapacity in the federal Leviathan, can it really…
Blog
New Jersey State Senate Pushes Union Giveaway in Project Labor Agreement Bill
The extent and huge costs of the damage from Hurricane Sandy to New Jersey should make rebuilding the worst affected areas…
The Hill
Right seeks to further weaken NLRB
Last week, The Hill’s Congress blog published two opinion pieces, by Fred Wszolek of the anti-union Workforce Fairness Institute and Trey Kovaks of the libertarian…
The Hill
Coming to America? It’s Going to Cost You
Meanwhile, even unauthorized immigrants from Central America pay between $7,000 and $10,000 in smuggling fees to get across the border, according…
Blog
TSA’s Body Scanner Shuffle Continues, Agency Still Flouts The Law On Body Scanners
A great deal of news coverage today has been given to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to remove backscatter X-ray strip-search machines from U.S.
Blog
Partisanship perverts the NLRB
The Hill When former SEIU Associate General Counsel Craig Becker left his post at the National Labor Relations Board in December 2011, he quickly…
The Hill
Partisanship Perverts the NLRB
When former SEIU Associate General Counsel Craig Becker left his post at the National Labor Relations Board in December 2011, he quickly segued into a…
Blog
Vive la Liberte! Even France Liberalizing Its Labor Laws
It may not be enough to make Lafayette proud, but it’s good news all the same. The New York Times reports: French labor…
Blog
Vive la Liberte! Even France Liberalizing Its Labor Laws
Openmarket.org It may not be enough to make Lafayette proud, but it’s good news all the same. The New York Times reports: French labor unions and business…
Blog
Worthwhile Pension Reform Proposal in the Old Dominion
When trying to get out of a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. When the hole is a state pension deficit,…
Blog
Obamacare Imposes New Fees, Cost Increases On The Public
Obamacare was sold to the public based on the fallacy that it would cut healthcare costs, but each month brings additional evidence that it…
Blog
How About Some Intellectual Diversity At The Labor Department?
As the cabinet turns: Hilda Solis announced this week that she will soon be stepping down from her post as secretary of labor. Solis, a…
The Hill
E-Verify: Immigration Reform’s Threat To Legal Workers
Ken Nagel thought it would be no problem to hire his daughter at his Phoenix restaurant. He had not considered that Arizona’s new employment verification…
Blog
Feds Say Hybrid Electric Vehicles Too Quiet, Noisemakers Should Be Mandated
Green paternalists often gush about the great potential for hybrid electric automobiles to reduce negative externalities, or social costs, such as local air pollution and…
Blog
Update On D.C.’s Driverless Car Legalization Legislation
In November, I noted in The Washington Post and here on Open Market that a bill introduced in the D.C. Council contained two dangerously flawed provisions and…
Blog
Chicago Voters Reelect Legally Insane Judge
In November, Chicago voters re-elected a legally insane judge charged with a crime of violence. "The Cook County Democratic Party…
Blog
The Great California Government Union Swindle
Are government employees overpaid? A six-part Bloomberg report answers that question with a resounding "Yes." It also singles out one state as the biggest spender…
Blog
Stuck in Time: Italy’s Politics
Things have a way of repeating themselves. This is especially true in Italy, where politics have been stuck in a time loop for the…
Blog
Panel Discussion: The State Of Labor
Michigan's new right-to-work law and the state of organized labor in both the private and public sectors dominated discussion Thursday at "The State of…
The American Spectator
We Cheer for Michigan
What a difference. This week’s enactment of a right to work law by Michigan lawmakers comes only three years after the 2009 government-directed bankruptcies of…
Hot Air
Forced unionization of in-home care workers back on Minnesota agenda
Open Market’s Trey Kovacs explained this at the time: To unionize a class of workers, Minnesota’s Labor Relations Act calls for a majority of workers…
Forbes
Can Union Backed Crowdfunding Rescue Hostess From Bankruptcy?
By now you’ve heard at least two opposing versions of the Tale of the Tearful Twinkies. In the first, a great American brand was driven…
Blog
Right-To-Work Laws Aren’t Perfect, But They’re Better Than The Likely Alternative
On more than one occasion, I’ve heard some libertarians object to right-to-work laws on the grounds that they undermine freedom of contract by barring employers…
Blog
Sierra Club Transportation Report Unsurprisingly Trashes (Some Bad) Road Projects, Praises Transit And Bike Waste
The Sierra Club's Beyond Oil Campaign recently released a report [PDF] highlighting what the environmentalist group claims to be the 50 best and worst…
Blog
Obama’s Dangerous Italian Labor Rhetoric
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260"] President Obama spoke in Detroit on Monday[/caption] President Obama condemned yesterday Michigan’s forthcoming transition to a right-to-work state. He claimed,…
Blog
Big Labor’s Choice: Improve And Evolve, or Perish
Over the past year, the Midwest has had a pro-worker epiphany, a movement now reaching its crescendo with the imminent passage of right-to-work legislation in…
Blog
Big Labor’s Choice: Improve And Evolve, or Perish
Openmarket.org Over the past year, the Midwest has had a pro-worker epiphany, a movement now reaching its crescendo with the imminent passage of right-to-work…
Blog
Anti-Immigration Group FAIR: Market Is Like “A Mob Without Reason, Irrational and Immoral”
Last week, Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) denounced CEI’s position on immigration. Mehlman argued new foreign workers would degrade wages…
Blog
Catching The Chimera: Right-To-Work In Michigan
Openmarket.org Labor leaders have seen the writing on the wall for their movement for a while now. But that writing just got bolder and more ominous…
Blog
Catching The Chimera: Right-To-Work In Michigan
Labor leaders have seen the writing on the wall for their movement for a while now. But that writing just got bolder and more ominous for…
Blog
CEI Podcast For December 6, 2012: Rising Public Sector Pay
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson discusses why public sector workers make substantially more money than their private sector counterparts.
Blog
Union Holds U.S. Ports Hostage
Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 (ILWU) agreed to a labor contract with port operators associated with the Los Angeles/Long…
News Release
CEI: Tell Americans NOW How Much Time Govt. Workers Spend On Union Duties
Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2012 – Federal employees spent about 3.4 million hours performing union duties while on the clock in 2011, according to an…
Blog
Victory For Small Business: Lawsuit-Spawning Disabilities Rights Treaty Blocked
"By a vote of 61 to 38 with two-thirds needed, the U.S. Senate" Tuesday "failed to ratify the far-reaching Convention on the Rights of Persons…
Blog
Anti-Immigration Group Repudiates Free Market Principles
My last blog post pointed out the anti-immigrant charge that “massive infusions of cheap foreign labor” impoverishes the country is fundamentally anti-people. After all,…
Blog
If You Can’t Beat Him, Join Together
Wisconsin’s largest teachers unions may be joining forces. The WEAC, an affiliate of the National Education Association, and the AFT-Wisconsin, affiliate of the American Federation of…
National Review
Sneaky Stuff
Some Democrats are trying to sneak through legislative amendments that would, by overturning a number of Supreme Court decisions, both codify and expand disparate-impact causes…
Blog
Official Time: Officially Outrageous
Would you be upset if you learned that your local tax dollars were funding a rival sports team in another state? Of course, but that, thankfully, is…
Blog
Official Time: Officially Outrageous
Openmarket.org Would you be upset if you learned that your local tax dollars were funding a rival sports team in another state? Of course,…
Blog
Anti-Immigrant? Or Just Anti-People?
What economists call “labor,” most of us just call “people.” Without people, there is no economy -- no producers, no consumers, no supply, and no…
Project M
Great lowered expectations
The final bill would in turn be partially funded by the $7 billion in federal tax revenues gained as a result of corporations’ reduced tax-deductible…
Blog
Looting The Future: Union Bosses Violate Spirit If Not Letter Of The Law
Openmarket.org Hostess’ union-induced shutdown captures the essence of the modern labor movement–more anti-employer than pro-worker. Workers are taking notice of unions’ negative impact on employers,…
Blog
Looting The Future: Union Bosses Violate Spirit If Not Letter Of The Law
Hostess’ union-induced shutdown captures the essence of the modern labor movement–more anti-employer than pro-worker. Workers are taking notice of unions’ negative impact on employers, for…
Blog
Immigration Reform Is Not A Zero Sum Game
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on Republicans’ first post-election attempt at pro-immigration reform. But their bill, the STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429),…
News Release
STEM Jobs Act a Step Backward on Immigration Reform, Warns Free Market Group
WASHINGTON D.C., Nov. 29, 2012 – This Friday, the House of Representatives will vote on the STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429). The bill would…
Blog
L.A. Public Pension Problem A Microcosm Of California’s Financial Woes
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan abandoned efforts this week to gather signatures for a ballot initiative to reform the city’s public pension plan.
Blog
Guest Workers Can Help End Illegal Immigration
The debate over immigration reform has focused on its long-term effects on America’s culture as well as its economy. But that obscures the fact that…
Blog
Union Fail: Walmart Survives Labor-Driven Intimidation Campaign
Openmarket.org Well, that was pitiful. Union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart had planned a massive, nationwide strike/protest campaign against the retail…
Blog
Union Fail: Walmart Survives Labor-Driven Intimidation Campaign
Well, that was pitiful. Union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart had planned a massive nationwide strike/protest campaign against the retail giant designed…
Project M
Walmart employees striking locally, nationally on Black Friday
“The union may say they’re not engaged in an organizing effort here,” said Matt Patterson, speaking for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “But the truth is…
Blog
PATTERSON AND BROWN: Demise of the Twinkie reveals unions’ true priorities
The Washington Times Is there a more iconic American snack than the Twinkie? The long-ubiquitous “golden sponge cake with cream filling” has been around…
Blog
Profile: The Union Behind Black Friday Walmart Protests
As the union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making a Change at Walmart gear up to make a statement this Black Friday, the company took…
Blog
CEI Podcast For November 21, 2012: Will Hostess Survive?
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson breaks down the controversy surrounding confection maker Hostess' perilous position.
Project M
Demise of the Twinkie reveals unions’ true priorities
Is there a more iconic American snack than the Twinkie? The long-ubiquitous “golden sponge cake with cream filling” has been around since 1930, when baker…
Blog
Hostess Bankruptcy Backstory: The AFL-CIO vs. SEIU Rivalry
The controversy over the impending shutdown of Hostess Brands — and who is to blame — has pitted two unions against each other. That…
Blog
New I-495 Express Lanes Present Challenges, But Remain Best Option
This past Saturday, the innovative I-495 Express Lanes opened on the Washington Beltway. The 14-mile high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes — which were built and are…
Blog
The Hostess Bankruptcy And The Threat Of A PBGC Bailout
On Friday, November 16, Hostess Brands announced it was shutting down operations after the Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), which rejected…
Blog
Eleventh-Hour Twinkie Reprieve?
Today, representatives from Hostess Brands and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) undertake an 11th-hour effort to negotiate a…
Blog
Hostess Negotiates With Union: Jobs And Twinkies Could Be Saved
On Monday, Hostess Brands asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for permission to close and liquidate all assets. But at…
Blog
Walmart: A Black Eye On Black Friday
Walmart has long been one of the left's favorite boogeymen, and no wonder -- the company stubbornly and successfully has resisted efforts by labor unions to organize its workforce for years.
Blog
Walmart: A Black Eye On Black Friday
Openmarket.org Walmart has long been one of the left’s favorite boogeymen-men, and no wonder — the company has stubbornly and successfully resisted efforts by labor unions to organize its…
Overlawyered
Discrimination Law Roundup
EEOC continues to pressure employers over use of criminal background checks in hiring process [Hans Bader, Daniel Schwartz, Jon Hyman, earlier]…
Blog
Profile: The Union That Took Down Twinkees
We all know it as the labor union that took down snack food company Hostess, but what exactly is the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers…
Blog
Binding Arbitration’s Threat To State And Local Governments
One reason Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's labor reforms are considered far-reaching -- by both supporters and detractors -- is the fact that they were structural.
Blog
Bad Economic Omens Since The Election
Since the election, the stock market has fallen substantially. The S&P 500 has fallen over 5 percent. The prospect of "Taxmageddon" (massive tax increases…
Blog
Unionization Bad For TSA, Worse For Passengers
Along with the rising cost of bag fees, the most notorious nuisance air travelers must endure before reaching the terminal is the security checkpoint…
Blog
Union Strike-Showdown Could End In Hostess Shutdown
They are messing with our Twinkies. Upset over cuts to pensions and salaries brought on by a new collective bargaining contract, employees of Hostess, which…
Blog
Immigration Reform Resurrected!
Nothing makes politicians see the light like losing. Even while immigration restrictionists reassure themselves that the GOP’s immigration message is fine despite losing as…
Overlawyered
Business Survival in a Second Obama Term
Obama is the president who delayed the Keystone XL pipeline and its bounty of jobs, pushed “cap and trade” as part of an overall war…
Blog
Big Labor Victory Exaggerated, Fight Continues
After the 2012 election, labor unions celebrated what was seen as an overall victorious election season for their organizations. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka bragged…
Blog
D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
Blog
CEI Podcast For November 8, 2012: Election Wrap-Up
Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains why the election turned out the way it did, and what the results mean going forward for…
Blog
Alaska Gold Rush For The Laborers’ Union
The Alaska Policy Forum recently exposed that the state’s legislature in 2011 and 2012 appropriated millions of tax dollars to finance the facilities of a…
Blog
Alaska Gold Rush For Laborers’ Union
Openmarket.org The Alaska Policy Forum recently exposed that the state’s legislature in 2011 and 2012 appropriated millions of tax dollars to finance a Laborer’s…
Blog
Alabama Unions Vs. Privacy: Organized Labor’s War On The Secret Ballot
Openmarket.org Tomorrow, Alabamans will have the opportunity to enshrine the secret ballot into their state constitution. A proposal before voters called Amendment 7 would “provide that…
Blog
Alabama Unions Vs. Privacy: Organized Labor’s War On The Secret Ballot
By Matt Patterson and Crissy Brown Tomorrow, Alabamans will have the opportunity to enshrine the secret ballot into their state constitution. A proposal before voters called Amendment…
Blog
Auto Industry Expert: “Romney’s Plan Also Would Have ‘Saved’ Detroit”
Earlier, we noted that the auto bailouts temporarily look more successful right now than they likely will be in the long-run since Toyota's bogus safety issues,…
Blog
KOVACS: Police union puts bargaining rights ahead of public safety
The Washington Times On Nov. 6, Montgomery County voters will decide whether the police chief or the head of the police union should determine…
Blog
Never Look A Gift (Clause) Horse In The Mouth
Openmarket.org In America, it is impossible to snuff out money from politics. As long as government has the power to dish out favors to…
Blog
Never Look A Gift (Clause) Horse In The Mouth
In America, it is impossible to snuff out money from politics. As long as government has the power to dish out favors to politically connected…
