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
Pardon me boys, is this the Special Interest Express?
The Washington Post published a smart editorial on Monday on why the proposed Railway Safety Act is a bad idea. The legislation is…
News Release
21st Century Worker Act Aims to End Worker Classification Confusion
Today, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the 21st Century Worker Act, a much needed practical step to clear up persistent confusion surrounding worker classification under…
News Release
92,000 jobs were lost in February, turbulent labor market continues: CEI analysis
The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report shows 92,000 jobs were lost in February, indicating a turbulent labor market. Given today’s report, attention will…
Search Posts
Citation
Wanted: Alcoholic Truck Drivers
Citation
Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers
Citation
Should We Charge For Immigrant Visas?
Citation
EEOC: Drinking History no Reason to Withhold Heavy Trucking Jobs
News Release
CEI and Crossroads GPS Announce Launch of Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
WASHINGTON — With state governments across the country struggling to balance budgets and fund basic services over the demands of big government unions, the…
Blog
More Barriers to Job Creation from Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability Risk
The president is full of hollow rhetoric about creating jobs, even though his stimulus package destroyed jobs in our export sector and…
Citation
Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability
Op-Eds
Immigration Tariff: Reforming a Broken System
America’s immigration system is broken. Years of overregulation aimed at micromanaging the system has produced nearly 100 different types of visas, each with its…
Blog
NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
Op-Eds
Rekindling the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. is now memorialized with an imposing statue on the D.C. National Mall. While the honor is long overdue, his legacy should…
Blog
Time to Stop Increasing Education Spending?
Even The New York Times is now questioning the massive spending increases on education that have occurred over the last generation in a discussion…
Blog
Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
Blog
Deregulate the Practice of Law to Promote Justice and Create Jobs
It's time to deregulate the practice of law, write Clifford Winston and Robert W. Crandall of the Brookings Institution in The Wall Street…
Blog
Today’s Questions for the President
By Peter Kirsanow/National Review Online When you were asked why you didn’t submit your jobs plan before going on vacation, you responded that there was…
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition to Oppose New Air Travel Taxes
Joining Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, and others, the Competitive Enterprise Institute signed a letter [PDF]…
Blog
WEAC Demonstrates that Union Solidarity is a Thing of the Past
Openmarket.org The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin’s paramount teachers union, issued layoff notices to 40 percent of its staff. Union bosses blame Gov. Scott…
Blog
WEAC Demonstrates that Union Solidarity is a Thing of the Past
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin’s paramount teachers union, issued layoff notices to 40 percent of its staff. Union bosses blame Gov. Scott Walkers…
Blog
UAW’s King Aims for Seat on the Board in Ford Negotiations
Openmarket.org United States manufacturing growth hits a two-year low. The stock market is fluctuating violently. Not to mention a steady rate of over 9 percent unemployment.
Blog
UAW’s King Aims for Seat on the Board in Ford Negotiations
United States manufacturing growth hits a two-year low. The stock market is fluctuating violently. Not to mention a steady rate of over 9…
Citation
Wisconsin Recall Goes Wrong Way for Labor
Blog
Canada’s PM praises trade pact with Colombia — a good act for President Obama to follow
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with his strong defense of Canada’s trade agreement with Colombia, provides a stark contrast with President Obama’s weak-kneed approach…
Blog
In Wisconsin Recall, Unions Run to Stay in Place
No matter what the outcome of today’s recall election, nothing substantive will change in Wisconsin. Even if organized labor were to sweep all six recall…
Blog
The “Obama Law” Devastates Impoverished People in the World’s Second Poorest Country, The Congo
People are going hungry, pulling their children out of school due to poverty, and joining criminal gangs to make ends meet in the poorest region…
Op-Eds
To Create Jobs, Streamline The Issuance Of Visas
Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas recently outlined steps that would lower restrictions and regulations…
Blog
The ugly side of Big Labor
The Baltimore Sun On July 10, three Chicago-area Alderwoods funeral homes were viciously vandalized. All were Dignity Memorial network facilities that had also been targeted…
News Release
CEI Commends Rep. Issa’s Decision to Subpoena NLRB
Washington, D.C., August 8, 2011 — Today, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for all documentation regarding the board’s…
Op-Eds
Women in the Boardroom
SIR – From an American legal perspective, laws that mandate quotas for women on corporate boards in some European countries seem utterly bizarre (“The…
Products
Fred Smith Discusses Auto Worker Strike on CNN Crossfire
CNN CROSSFIRE, July 13, 1998 HEADLINE: Who Will Give in the Auto Workers Strike that Has Crippled GM? GUESTS: Michael Moore, Fred Smith BYLINE: Bill…
Blog
Hoover Didn’t Cut Spending, and Spending Cuts Didn’t Trigger the 1937 Roosevelt Recession
The false left-wing meme of the day is that the modest spending cuts in Sunday's debt limit deal are bad, because spending cuts caused the…
Op-Eds
The Tea Party and a Struggling Economy
Joe Nocera claims that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “cutting spending” in 1937 made the Depression worse. It was not budget cuts but costly liberal court…
Blog
USPS Bailout on the Horizon
Openmarket.org Before we even come close to paying off our current government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) or recoup taxpayer dollars from Federal bailouts (General…
Blog
Robert Reich Doesn’t Understand Surface Transportation Funding
Over at Salon, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has a predictably empty article on the debt ceiling deal in which he denounces Republicans for…
Citation
Newly Exposed Labor Union Manual Advocates Using Intimidation Tactics
Citation
Vincent Vernuccio on the Strike at World Trade Center
CEI Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio discusses the "work stoppage" at the construction site of the new world trade Center building in new York. Vincent…
Blog
License to Rent-Seek
Few regulations are more blatantly anti-competitive than occupational licensing.
Blog
Gender Quotas Spread in Europe, Mandated for Corporate Boards
After Norway adopted gender quotas for corporate boards -- requiring companies to have boards of directors comprised of at least 40 percent women -- large…
Blog
Legislative Band-Aids Won’t Fix the NLRA
Openmarket.org The House will vote on the Jobs Protection from Government Interference Act today. Sponsor Rep. Tim Scott and other representatives of Congress have proposed…
Blog
Legislative Band-Aids Won’t Fix the NLRA
The House will vote on the Jobs Protection from Government Interference Act today. Sponsor Rep. Tim Scott and other representatives of Congress have proposed numerous…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 28, 2011: Immigration Reform
President Obama made a speech on immigration reform this week. Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh dissects several bills already in Congress that would do just that,…
News Release
CEI to Score Vote on Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act
The House is expected to vote today on a bill that would rein in the overreach of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The…
Blog
Thousands of Jobs and Billions in Wealth Wiped Out by Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Provision
Thanks to the "conflict minerals" provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, thousands of the world's poorest people will lose their jobs. Why? Simply because they…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 187: Pedicabs
The DC City Council wants to require pedicab passengers to wear seatbelts.
Citation
AFSCME’s War on Workers & Taxpayers: A Look Inside The AFSCME Playbook
The American Spectator
Obama’s Favorite Union Heavies
Unions thrive on workplace conflict. The AFL-CIO, for example, sponsors a "Bad Boss Contest," which awards the employee who submits the best story…
Blog
Judge Rules against SEIU in Fight with another Union
A judge has ruled that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) improperly benefited from an employer threatening workers with loss of raises in a 2010 election in California…
Bloomberg
‘You’re Fired’ Doesn’t Mean Fired to Four of 10 Air Controllers
Blog
Un-Essential Air Service
Want to get to Vegas from Ely, Nevada? How about a $5,223 plane ticket? Don’t worry. Its price tag is only $149…
Blog
Steve Wynn: Obama is the “Greatest Wet Blanket to Business and Progress and Job Creation in My Lifetime”
Even Democratic businessmen are getting disenchanted with the Obama administration and its knee-jerk hostility to anything that creates jobs or wealth. Las Vegas mogul…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 21, 2011: Stopping the Music
Labor Policy Counsel Vinnie Vernuccio, who coauthored a recent op-ed in the New York Daily News, finds that labor unions, by resisting necessary changes and…
Blog
Wasteful Education Spending Continues Despite Laughable Claim that Spending has Been Cut to the Bone
As Heather MacDonald notes, California state universities still are wasting plenty of money despite dishonestly claiming to have cut spending "to the bone”:…
Bloomberg
No Union, Including SEIU, Should Be Above the Law
Bloomberg
Labor Unions Stop the Music
Mozart and Chopin have never had a nemesis like a union scorned. All around the nation, orchestras and symphonies are going silent, crushed by inflexible…
Bloomberg
SEIU’s Dirty Tactics Exposed
Blog
Federal Job Security
More workers die than get fired at many federal agencies.
Bloomberg
July 19 Roundup: Will Congress Reverse This Term’s Much-Attacked SCOTUS Decisions?
Comment
Russ Brown to Testify Before the NLRB
Full Document Available in PDF Russ Brown, Vice President at the Labor Relations Institute, will…
Bloomberg
Vincent Vernuccio Exposes SEIU Manual of Dirty Tricks
Vincent Vernuccio discusses new attempts by unions, specifically SEIU, to pressure and coerce employers and corporations as a way to get around dwindling numbers.
Bloomberg
Vincent Vernuccio on SEIU Organizing Tactics Manual
Vincent Vernuccio discusses new attempts by unions, specifically the SEIU, to pressure and coerce employers and corporations as a way to get around dwindling numbers.
Bloomberg
Labor’s New Strategy: Intimidation for Dummies
In the past decade, unions have become increasingly desperate to obtain new dues-paying members. An example of how desperate can be found in a 70-plus-page…
Blog
$130,000 in Stimulus Funds Spent for Book on “White Privilege” that Attacks Colorblindness
The Omaha Public Schools spent $130,000 in federal stimulus funds to buy a diversity manual for 8,000 teachers, administrators, support staffers -- even…
Blog
Massachusetts’ Collective Bargaining Law: A Worry for the Obama Administration?
It's not easy being a governor or state legislator these days. With states facing deep budget deficits, state lawmakers around the nation are working to…
Blog
Obama Makes Deficit-Reduction Deal Harder by Appearing to Plot to Use Tax Increases for Spending, Rather Than Debt Reduction
Publicly, President Obama has suggested a grand bargain to get America's staggering budget deficits under control, a deal in which Republicans would agree to…
Blog
Immelt Pleads for Tax Holiday to Enhance GE Rent-Seeking
Yesterday, arch rent-seeker Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric CEO and Obama’s job czar, headlined the “Campaign for Free Enterprise” job summit. In typical fashion, Immelt had…
Blog
Stimulus Dollars Funded Mexican Coffin Industry through “Operation Fast and Furious”
Not content with just using American tax dollars to subsidize foreign "green jobs" that replaced U.S. jobs, the Obama administration used stimulus dollars…
Blog
Unemployment Rises, Driven Up By Failed Government Policies
U.S. employment growth ground to a halt in June, with employers hiring the fewest number of workers in nine months . . . Non-farm…
One News Now
Unions ‘Have Nowhere Else To Go’
One News Now
Vincent Vernuccio Criticizes TSA Push for Unionization
Vincent Vernuccio again slams the TSA, this time for stealing from passengers and failing to do a better job of policing their own, while…
Blog
Mica and Duncan’s Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill Calls for 42% Cuts from SAFETEA-LU Levels
Today, House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Highway and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-Tenn.) announced they would be introducing a $230-billion,…
Blog
New Video on the D.C. Taxicab Medallion Bill
Reason.tv has a new video up today, “D.C. Taxi Heist: How a new law would screw drivers and riders,” that explains why Washington’s proposed…
Blog
Public-Sector Unions in the Northeast are a Tough Group to Please
Openmarket.org The cozy relationship between liberal governors in Northeast states and Big Labor is becoming strained. Elected Democrats are realizing how strongly strings were attached…
Blog
Public-Sector Unions in the Northeast are a Tough Group to Please
The cozy relationship between liberal governors in Northeast states and Big Labor is becoming strained. Elected Democrats are realizing how strongly strings were attached to…
Blog
The National Labor Relations Act Turns 76
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) turns 76 today. This day should give pause to those who have been following the National Labor Relations…
Blog
Third Time’s the Charm: Ray LaHood Announces TIGER 3
Late last week, the Department of Transportation announced it was launching a third round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery -- I feel…
Blog
Liberal Judges: Equality Violates Equal Protection Clause; Taxpayers to Pay More Due to Ruling
Last week, a divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which amended Michigan's constitution in 2006 to ban racial…
One News Now
Another Horselaugh for the Sixth Circuit
One News Now
Is the Stimulus Creating Jobs, or Killing Them?
Blog
Chicago Mayor Emanuel Gives Unions a Choice: Concessions or Layoffs
Leaders of government employee unions must be feeling lonely these days. Across the country, Democratic state and local elected officials — traditional union allies —…
Blog
Keeping the “Free” in Free Trade
Yesterday, Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Finance Committee meeting to consider free trade agreements (FTA) with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. The reason? President Obama…
Study
Labor Unions and the Democratic Party
Full Document Available in PDF Recently AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka compared…
Study
Financial Attack
Full Document Available in PDF Led by the radical Service Employees International Union (SEIU), left-wing unions and activist…
Letters
Coalition Letters Opposing E-Verify Mandate
CEI has signed coalition letters to both the Senate and the House of Representatives opposing H.R. 2164, which would mandate the use of the bureaucratic…
Blog
In Wisconsin, Smaller Class Sizes through Fiscal Restraint
Of the various hyperbolic leftist talking points against the recently enacted Wisconsin collective bargaining law, the “war on teachers” was easily the most shrill, dumb,…
Blog
Alabama’s Dangerous Crackdown on Undocumented Workers
You might’ve read about the unintended consequences of Georgia’s crackdown on undocumented workers. Well, the same thing is about to happen in Alabama.
Blog
Farm Workers Win in California
Late last night Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the California farm workers “card check” bill SB 104 for. The bill would have abolished workers right to…
Blog
Senate Judiciary Committee Pushes False Claim that Supreme Court is “Pro-Business”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is bashing the Supreme Court today as pro-business in a hearing that began at 10:30 a.m. Two of the…
Blog
Union Sign Shows Big Labor Distaste for Competition
UAW local 599 President Bill Jordan misses the forest for the trees, as is typical for union officials. A photo from the Carpe Diem…
Blog
Setting the Record Straight: Trade Creates Wealth
In his article “…
Blog
Food Stamp Nation
"Millionaires are now legally entitled to collect food stamps as long as they have little or no monthly income. Thirty-five states have abolished asset tests…
One News Now
Obama’s Non-Action On NLRB, Boeing ‘Very Telling’
Blog
Stealing You Blind: The Fate of Greece
Rioters have taken to the streets in the Greek capital of Athens. While not as unusual an occurrence as it is in Athens, Georgia,…
Blog
DOL Looks to Increase Fiduciary Standards without Following Procedure Standards
Openmarket.org The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a new rule to broaden the definition of fiduciary. Fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
Blog
DOL Looks to Increase Fiduciary Standards without Following Procedure Standards
The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a new rule to broaden the definition of fiduciary. Fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
One News Now
Louisiana Lawmaker’s Push for Transparency in Collective Bargaining Gains National Currency
One News Now
Lawyers have incentives to bring more lawsuits
Re: “Trial lawyers won’t give up on Wal-Mart lawsuits,” June 24 Diana Furchtgott-Roth notes that lawyers typically get a percentage of a worker’s winnings in…
News Release
Conservative, Libertarian Leaders Discuss Regulatory Burdens, Fiscal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory E-Verify Legislation
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, June 30th, conservative and libertarian leaders will host a press conference call on controversial immigration enforcement legislation the House Judiciary…
One News Now
Ginsburg Gives Conflicting Statements on Class-Action Suit
Blog
Taxpayers vs. the Post Office Bureaucracy
When it comes down to outdated business model of the Post Office vs. taxpayers and postal workers, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sides with taxpayers and…
Blog
Rail Carriers, Shippers Battle Over Regulation Before the Surface Transportation Board
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I've been involved in an ongoing proceeding before the Surface Transportation Board, the independent Department of Transportation agency…
Blog
Georgia’s Immigration Folly
Who’d of thought it: cracking down on immigrant workers hurts the economy? Georgia’s learning the hard way as farms lose laborers and crops go…
Blog
A Definition of Unsustainable: The Long-Term Budget Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office has released its latest edition of the Long-Term Budget Outlook, and it makes for grim reading. Federal debt is currently…
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