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: Questioning the AI jobs doomsday with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we cover making home appliances great again, fighting price controls on health care, research on AI-fueled…
Blog
Why Big Tech is postponing the AI jobs doomsday
The heads of big tech have recently changed their tune regarding artificial intelligence’s effect on jobs. The emerging technology will bolster the workforce,…
Study
Don’t Panic: A Skeptic’s Guide to the AI Jobs Doomsday
As technology advances it has periodically bred the fear that progress will destroy jobs and livelihoods. History teaches that these fears are usually misplaced.
Search Posts
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…
Op-Eds
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…
Blog
Pro-Charter Is Pro-Choice
This November, Washington could become the 42nd state to authorize charter schools. Washington residents will vote on Initiative 1240, which if passed will “allow…
Washington Times
Police union puts bargaining rights ahead of public safety
On Nov. 6, Montgomery County voters will decide whether the police chief or the head of the police union should determine public-safety policy. The voter…
Blog
California Unions Uber Alles?
In the media coverage of the presidential election, one state that is unlikely to get much attention is California, which appears to be solidly in…
Blog
Italy’s Greatest Economic Threat: Italian Politicians
Italian ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told news sources last week that his party -- Popolo della Libertà -- would soon decide whether or not to…
Blog
The threat striking fear into the hearts of weary airline travelers everywhere
By Matt Patterson, FoxNews.com On October 24th, 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Act, ending the nightmare of total government-control…
Washington Times
The threat striking fear into the hearts of weary airline travelers everywhere
On October 24th, 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Act, ending the nightmare of total government-control over air travel. But now…
Blog
PolitiFact Fixes Two Of Its Three Errors Related To The Supreme Court’s Ledbetter Decision
PolitiFact just revised a webpage discussing the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision that once contained an error that we discussed here and brought…
Blog
Immigration Policy Should Strive For The “City On The Hill,” Not The “Deserted Town”
Opponents of human movement, also known as “immigration,” argue that if the U.S. government stops forcibly preventing foreign-born people from relocating to the United States,…
Blog
Pepco Caves On Contract Dispute To Avoid Union Strike
Talk about having your negotiating adversary over the barrel. Pepco and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers’ Maryland-based Local 1900 had been in contract gridlock…
Blog
Police (Union) Brutality: Montgomery County Police “Effects” Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety
Openmarket.org This November, voters in Montgomery County, Maryland, will decide whether the police chief or union boss should determine public safety policy. The voter initiative,…
Blog
Police (Union) Brutality: Montgomery County Police “Effects” Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety
This November, voters in Montgomery County, Maryland, will decide whether the police chief or union boss should determine public safety policy. The voter initiative, which will appear…
Blog
PolitiFact Smears Supreme Court, Provides False Political Talking Point For Democratic Party
Earlier, the left-leaning "fact-checker" PolitiFact made the false claim the Supreme Court had declared employees are barred from suing over pay discrimination even…
Blog
Devolve Infrastructure Decision-Making To Promote Efficiency, Foster Innovation
Last week, Walter Russell Mead had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that traditional infrastructure spending will no longer provide the services…
Blog
The True Cost Of The Auto Bailout
By Matt Patterson and Crissy Brown, Openmarket.org Once upon a time, there was a company called General Motors. It made cars. But the company…
Blog
Culinary Workers Union Behind Sin City Setback
As of July 2012, the unemployment rate of greater Clark County, Nevada, which includes the desert oasis of Las Vegas, is at 12.9 percent,…
Blog
Greece Fire: Unions Hold Up Negotiations On Austerity Measures
This week, Greek officials and monetary lenders continued negotiations over the austerity measures the country must implement to save itself from economic collapse. Greece must…
The Volokh Conspiracy
When Fact Checkers Have Trouble With Facts
Another example of fact checkers having trouble with facts can be found in Politifact’s commentary on whether it was fair for President Obama to criticize…
Blog
Obama Makes False Claim About Supreme Court Decision; Fact-Checkers Parrot It
Reading a Supreme Court decision is so hard! If you are a fact-checker, it's much easier just to let President Obama, a critic of a…
Blog
Not All Jobs Are Created Equal
By Matt Patterson & Crissy Brown, American Thinker Once upon a time, there was a company called General Motors. It made cars. But the company was…
Blog
UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm To Step Down Following Turbulent Tenure
John Wilhelm, the long-time president of the union UNITE HERE, has just announced he plans to step down. Union leadership changes are not often…
Blog
China’s High-Speed Rail Disaster Is Not A Model For The U.S.
After taking office in 2009, President Obama aggressively marketed high-speed rail in the United States. (I noted at the time that most of what…
The Volokh Conspiracy
Republicans Denounce Immigration Regulations Reagan Created
“I believe this action by the Obama administration is unconstitutional and circumvents Congress’ authority.” That was Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant explaining last week why…
Blog
PATTERSON AND BROWN: Greece’s grim future portends Western decline
By Matt Patterson and Chrissy Brown, The Washington Times In 490 B.C., the brand-new democracy at Athens faced its first existential challenge: a vast …
The Volokh Conspiracy
Greece’s grim future portends Western decline
In 490 B.C., the brand-new democracy at Athens faced its first existential challenge: a vast Persian army intent on crushing the Greek city-state for supporting…
Blog
Jobless Youth: Southern Europe’s Ticking Time Bomb
Forget austerity and bailouts. Southern Europe has an even bigger problem: a glut of unemployed young people. If this trend continues, workforces will regress in…
Blog
CEI Podcast For October 11, 2012: More Americans
Policy Analyst David Bier thinks the world could use more Americans. And an easy way make happen is through increasing legal immigration. America's superior economic…
Blog
New York Times And The Price Of Hypocrisy
Prompted by the Newspaper Guild, New York Times union employees carried out a brief walkout on Tuesday. At 3:35 pm, as many as 400 employees…
Blog
Unemployment Falls As Part-Time Work Expands
Unemployment fell from 8.1% to 7.8%, aided by an increase in part-time employment: "Some 582,000 Americans took part-time positions because of slack business conditions…
Blog
Regulations For Thee, But Not For Me
To liberals, regulations are great -- until they ensnare a liberal politician. Then, suddenly there needs to be an exception to the regulation. An example of…
Blog
New Chicago School Teacher Contract Nothing To Celebrate
Although Chicago public school teachers returned to their classrooms on Sept. 19, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) today officially ratified the contract to…
Blog
Suffocating Athena: Public Sector Unions Kill Greek Salvation — Again
On October 1, the Greek government unveiled an austerity package that aims to reduce public spending by $15 billion (11.5 billion euros) for 2013-2014,…
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