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
The Daily Signal
How Many Biden Appointees ‘Burrowed in’ to the Permanent Bureaucracy?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on political career placements Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, also highlighted the threat of…
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)…
Search Posts
Blog
11 Groups Urge Senators to Allow More Time to Consider NLRB Nominee McFerran
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 10 allied organizations signed a coalition letter urging the Senate to delay the nomination of Lauren McFerran to the National…
Blog
Competitive Enterprise Institute Event Highlights Department of Labor’s Crimanlization of Volunteer Work at For-Profit Businesses
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation are co-hosting an event on December 9th (see event details, here and below), which highlights the Department of…
Letters
11 Groups Urge Senators to Allow More Time to Consider NLRB Nominee McFerran
Read the full text of the coalition letter here The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 10 allied organizations signed a coalition letter urging…
Washington Examiner
Senate ensures NLRB keeps Democratic majority
The Washington Examiner discusses CEI's coalition letter opposing McFerran's nomination to the NLRB: A coalition of conservative groups led by the Competitive…
News Release
Coalition Opposes Obama NLRB Nominee
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and a coalition of 11 free-market and conservative organizations sent a letter today to all Members of the U.S. Senate…
Blog
Labor Scorecard Alert: “NO” on NLRB Nominee Lauren McFerran
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score the upcoming U.S. Senate vote on the confirmation of Lauren McFerran to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Blog
“I’ll Gladly Pay Future Generations for my Pension Check Today”
“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” was the trademark utterance of J. Wellington Wimpy, the mooching character from the old Popeye cartoons.
Blog
Wisconsin Public Employees Exercise Freedom to Choose
Wisconsin unions have spent the better part of the past three years denouncing Governor Scott Walker's signature public-sector collective bargaining reform law, Act 10.
CNS News
UAW Seeks Foreign Labor Groups’ Help to Unionize American Workers
Imagine you are an auto worker and one day you find union representatives campaigning inside your workplace, assisted by a foreign labor union, trying…
Blog
How to Reform an Antiquated Union Model
Vincent Vernuccio of the Mackinac Center has written a report that addresses the major problems of an American labor movement on life support.
Blog
GAO: Union Official Time Costs Underreported
In October, the Office of Personnel Management released the long-awaited report that estimates the cost and amount of time federal employees spend on union activities…
Blog
NLRB’s Mysterious New Member Dodges Important Questions, But Stresses Need for Fully Staffed Board
On December 16, Nancy Schiffer’s term on the National Labor Relations Board will end. Sharon Block was set to take her place but the Obama…
The Hill
An NLRB Prescription for Trouble
President Obama's nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have proven a prescription for trouble, and Lauren McFerran is no exception. Sen. Tom Harkin…
Opportunity Lives
Are Big Box Stores Good For America?
Are big box stores good for America? I thought about that last weekend during a panel where I spoke with fellow Millennials on issues…
Blog
Don’t Get “Grubered” by the Lauren McFerran Nomination to NLRB
Chief Labor Counsel and Deputy Staff Director of the jurisdictional Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Lauren McFerran has her confirmation hearing at 10:00AM…
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.
