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
California Card Check: Just Sign Here
The card check bill soon to be sitting on California Governor Jerry Brown’s desk is another attempt by labor unions to take away worker rights.
Blog
Obama Calls on Federal Agencies to Move to Alternative Fuel Vehicles by 2015
Today, President Obama issued a memorandum that directed executive agencies to develop purchasing and deployment plans for replacing the entire federal vehicle fleet with…
Blog
If You Can’t Defend It, Don’t Spend It
Openmarket.org Legislators in Louisiana are proposing an ingenious bill entitled, “Public Employee Bargaining Transparency Act” (PEBTA). If enacted, Louisiana would become only the seventh state…
Blog
The Politics of Public Pension Underfunding
To date, the debate over public pensions has focused largely on accounting methods — how best to estimate the level of current funding needed to…
Blog
If You Can’t Defend It, Don’t Spend It
Legislators in Louisiana are proposing an ingenious bill entitled, “Public Employee Bargaining Transparency Act” (PEBTA). If enacted, Louisiana would become only the seventh state to…
Blog
The Loony Left Era
The Economist has this to say about the NLRB’s pursuit of Boeing: The NLRB is an autonomous body, but its board members are appointed…
Blog
Stimulus Wiped Out a Million Private Sector Jobs
The economy may be slowly recovering, but that’s in spite of — not because of — the recent orgy of federal spending. Two economics professors,…
Blog
Trumka’s Empty Threat to Democrats
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is warning Democratic politicians today: Push our agenda, or we won’t support you in the 2012 election. It’s hard to imagine…
Blog
Forced Unionization: Bad for Business?
Only four short months ago President Obama said: If we make America the best place to do business, businesses should make their mark in…
Citation
Will Unions Leave the Democrats?
CEI’s Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio weighs in on AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s recent threat to Democratic leaders. Vincent…
Blog
In Other TSA News…
TSA officials recently performed a bomb drill at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and didn't tell anyone about it in advance.
Blog
TSA Sing-Along
The good folks at Reason.tv have released an educational music video about the TSA featuring singer-songwriter-comedian Remy. Worth watching.
Blog
This Time, Many Jobs May Be Gone For Good
Pajamas Media Americans have a lover’s faith in technology. And no wonder: for much of American history, technological innovation has lifted millions out of poverty,…
Blog
Fighting Back Against Obama’s Big Labor Favoritism
Republicans in both Houses of Congress are answering the Obama administration’s overreach in union favoritism. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee…
Blog
Unionization by Regulation: House Oversight Committee Seeks Answers from Politicized NLRB, NMB
As unions continue to decline in their private sector membership, union leaders are seeking political solutions to their problems. President Obama will need organized labor’s support…
Op-Eds
If You Care About Immigration, You Should Care About the STAPLE Act
President Obama’s immigration speech last week suffered from political schizophrenia. Early on he bragged of his administration’s efforts to stop undocumented immigration, but later…
Blog
Senators Introduce Bill to Push Back against NLRB Overreach
Reacting to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) blatant efforts to promote organized labor’s agenda, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)…
Blog
Brookings Report: Time to Fix America’s Broken Transit Policy
Following my post yesterday on Portland’s immense rail transit waste comes this new report from the Brookings Institution. Released today, the report (and…
Blog
Raise Awareness on Your Own Time
Openmarket.org The Washington Examiner had a piece that hits close to home, as I have seen this waste firsthand. I’m sure many in D.C.
Blog
Raise Awareness on Your Own Time
The Washington Examiner had a piece that hits close to home, as I have seen this waste firsthand. I’m sure many in D.C. area…
Blog
Is Trade Adjustment Assistance a Pre-Condition for Pending Trade Agreements?
Today, at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the committee chairman, ranking Republican, and the U.S. Trade Representative’s…
Blog
Who’s Afraid of Walmart?
As surely as summer follows spring, it seems like every new Walmart store opening announcement in a major city is now followed by protests. The…
Blog
Rail Transit Pipe Dream is Alive and Not-So-Well in Portland
If you’ve been following the free-market critiques of rail transit, you know that Portland, while frequently touted as “the city that works” by lefty…
Blog
NLRB vs. Arizona, South Dakota
By Chris Woodward/Onenewsnow.com A labor policy expert is blasting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for filing lawsuits over secret ballot legislation. The legal complaints…
One News Now
NLRB vs. Arizona, South Dakota
Blog
Congressional Economics
Congress might as well pass a law guaranteeing an above-average lifestyle for all Americans.
News Release
Obama Gives Half-Hearted Speech on Immigration Reform
Washington, D.C., May 10, 2011 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute is cautiously optimistic about President Obama’s call for comprehensive immigration reform. Some of his…
Blog
New CBO Pension Report: Underfunding Could Be Higher
That state and local governments face serious pension funding problems isn't a particularly controversial contention. However, the question of how much they're underfunded by is…
Blog
Progress on Free Trade — With Strings Attached
Looks like there could finally be some progress on long-pending free trade agreements (FTAs). Yesterday U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the administration…
Blog
Union Health Dependent on Obamacare
Openmarket.org The Obama administration through Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) steadily gives competitive advantages to Big Labor. Benefits for top political donors of…
Blog
Under Obama, Running Out of Money Is a Success
Big Government Only in Washington would running out of money and prematurely limiting a program be considered a success. This Friday (May 6,) Obamacare’s first…
Blog
Union Health Dependent on Obamacare
The Obama administration through Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) steadily gives competitive advantages to Big Labor. Benefits for top political donors of the…
One News Now
Feds accused of ‘coercion,’ ‘union bullying’
One News Now
Under Obama, Running Out of Money Is a Success
Only in Washington would running out of money and prematurely limiting a program be considered a success. This Friday (May 6,) Obamacare’s first handout program…
One News Now
States to NLRB: Get out of our way
Blog
D.C. Councilmembers Propose Taxicab Medallion System… Again
Washington, D.C., is one of the five taxicab jurisdictions in the country that allows for essentially free entry. While the cab situation in D.C. is…
Blog
The Battle for Wisconsin
Capital Research Center Wisconsin is the birthplace of American public-sector unionism. In 1930s the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) first organized…
Real Clear Markets
The NLRB Overreaches – Once Again
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has gone lawsuit crazy. With the U.S. House of Representatives now under Republican control, the Board is now…
Blog
Obama Administration Ignores the Will of States
Openmarket.org Recent National Labor Relations Board actions have revealed some disconcerting truths about the vision of the Obama Administration. The litigation against South Dakota…
Blog
Obama Administration Ignores the Will of States
Recent National Labor Relations Board actions have revealed some disconcerting truths about the vision of the Obama administration. The litigation against South Dakota and…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 28, 2011: High-Speed Rail
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at China's experience with high-speed rail, and finds that it may not be a very good…
Blog
Political Bailouts for Underfunded Union Pensions
While the nation's attention has focused on government employee unions' fight to retain their collective bargaining privileges, unions in the private sector are in an…
Blog
There Is No More Fat to Trim from Government Budgets
Over the last five years, the DC Metro has spent $2.4 million on back pay... for work that was never performed.
Blog
Faulty Public Pension Accounting: A Problem too Big to Ignore
One reason the ongoing debate over collective bargaining for government employees has been so loud is that the stakes are so high -- for unionized…
Real Clear Markets
The Unhappy Anniversary Of Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law
Just as supporters of Arizona’s anti-immigration law (SB 1070) were set to celebrate its first anniversary on April 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked…
Blog
Randal O’Toole on the Future of Automobility
Cato’s Randal “Antiplanner” O’Toole discusses replacing the gas tax with tolls and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) taxes, the importance of signal coordination and adaptive…
Blog
High-Speed Rail: A Bad Idea in the U.S., a Bad Idea in China
Today, Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network hosted Andy Kunz, the honcho of the lobbying outfit U.S. High Speed Rail Association. His advisory…
Blog
Unions taking work away
By Chris Wodward/Onenewsnow.com According to one researcher, union hypocrisy has been sighted in Seattle, Washington. CleanScapes, a private trash collection company based in Seattle, offered…
Real Clear Markets
Union Retreat May Mean no More Slush Funds
The news that the Firefighters’ union is going to stop spending money at the Federal level to defend its privileges at state and local level is…
One News Now
Unions taking work away
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 21, 2011: The Male-Female Pay Gap
Carrie Lukas, Managing Director of the Independent Women's Forum, argues that the pay gap between men and women isn't due to discrimination.
Blog
Education Department Financial Aid Rules Backfire, Harming Students
The Education Department tried to restrict the use of financial aid by for-profit colleges by barring them from getting more than 90 percent of their…
One News Now
Unions to Boeing: We’ll Tell You Where to Build Your Plants
One News Now
Your Taxes Paying Government Union Members Not to Work
One News Now
Study suggests H-1B fixes
Blog
There is No More Fat to Trim from Government Budgets
Workforce Central Florida, a government agency, is spending $73,000 to give away 6,000 capes and some cardboard cutouts.
Blog
A Market Failure in Air Traffic Control?
Air traffic control is simply too important an issue to leave to the free market. It is time to put the government in charge of…
Blog
Local Union to City: Hands Off Our Trash!
Labor unions of late have been fighting an uphill battle in public perception, attempting to justify the significance of unions for the middle class and…
Study
Panel Transcript: Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children
MARK KRIKORIAN: Good morning. My name is Mark Krikorian. I’m executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank here in town that…
Blog
Political Correctness Roundup: School Officials Attack Easter, Thanksgiving, and “White Privilege”
A Minnesota school district is "laying off 94 teachers” even while spending thousands of dollars to send "a delegation" of teachers to an annual “White Privilege Conference”…
Blog
Senator Jim Webb Flunks Legislation 101: Says Congress Can’t Change the Law
Congress can always change the law if it chooses. For example, it passed the 1991 Civil Rights Act, which overturned many Supreme Court decisions interpreting…
Blog
Dulles Rail Union Giveaway to Increase Costs
An expensive rail line for passengers traveling in and out of the Washington, D.C. region's Dulles International Airport never struck me as a good use…
One News Now
What’s the holdup?
Blog
Education Department Undermines Due Process and Accuracy in Campus Sexual Harassment Cases
On April 4, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent the nation’s school officials a letter urging them to water down…
Blog
“We Are One” Unless You’re New
Openmarket.org Alert to non-unionized workers out there, be wary of joining a union during contract negotiations. Recent news has shown a plethora of contract negotiations…
Blog
“We Are One” Unless You’re New
Alert to non-unionized workers out there, be wary of joining a union during contract negotiations. Recent news has shown a plethora of contract negotiations where…
Blog
STB Should Ignore Calls to Re-regulate Railroads
Yesterday, I filed a comment letter with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on behalf of CEI regarding the board's request for comments prior to…
Blog
TSA Gropes 6-Year-Old Girl
Sometimes people wonder why I favor abolishing the TSA outright. Here's one reason.
Blog
Education Department Changes Burden of Proof in Sexual Harassment Cases Under Title IX
The Education Department is trying to change the burden of proof that many colleges and universities use in disciplinary proceedings over sexual harassment, despite court…
Blog
U.S. Swipes at Colombia’s Sovereignty with Onerous Labor Requirements
AEI’s Claude Barfield posted an insightful comment on the new labor requirements the U.S. foisted on Colombia in connection with the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade…
One News Now
Why Can’t Obama and Congress See That Our Poor Immigration Policies Punish American Companies Who Want to Hire Skilled Immigrants?
On April 1, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) began accepting petitions for H-1B visas for 2012. H-1Bs are temporary employer-sponsored work visas for highly…
One News Now
A Tale of Two Bridges
What do you do if you lose 25 percent of your population in a decade, bringing your city to a 100-year low, and…
One News Now
A Slightly Different Take on Prosser-Kloppenburg
One News Now
Obama Administration Covers Up Union Welfare Program
The Obama administration is more than a year late in releasing an important report on federal government union costs. Clauses within collective bargaining agreements require…
One News Now
Wisconsin Supreme Court: A Referendum that Wasn’t
Big labor attempted to turn yesterday’s election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court into a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s budget policies, but,…
One News Now
Solis’ Pro-Union Bias
Speaking to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., Labor Secretary Hilda Solis admitted she was biased toward unions. Unions only account…
One News Now
Collective Bargaining – a “Privilege”
One News Now
Wisconsin Supreme Court: A Referendum that Wasn’t
Blog
Unions Use Civil Rights for Own Ends
Openmarket.org Yesterday, AFL-CIO held nationwide events to promote the solidarity between the union protests over collective bargaining and the rights Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,…
Blog
Paul Ryan’s Budget Proposal is Half the Answer
This morning, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) unveiled a bold proposal to trim trillions off America’s bloated budget. It represents the only serious proposal out there…
Blog
Unions Use Civil Rights for Own Ends
Yesterday, AFL-CIO held nationwide events to promote the solidarity between the union protests over collective bargaining and the rights Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and…
Blog
Entrepreneurship Dips: The New York Times Admits Small Business is Important
Yesterday's NYT cautions that "jobs are scarce" in small business as American entrepreneurship declines: Here's the explanation the NYT includes from the pessimistic chart's…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 5, 2011: Reforming the Railway Labor Act
Russ Brown, a vice president at the Labor Relations Institute and a CEI Adjunct Analyst, talks about recent changes made to the Railway Labor Act…
Blog
Union Officials Exploit Tragedy to Increase Membership and Dues
Openmarket.com Union officials have a long history of propagating tragedy to enforce their pro-union agenda. Big Labor is able to accomplish this effect as efficiently…
Blog
Union Officials Exploit Tragedy to Increase Membership and Dues
Union officials have a long history of propagating tragedy to enforce their pro-union agenda. Big Labor is able to accomplish this effect as efficiently and…
One News Now
Wal-Mart v. Dukes [Lawyers] Ask Courts To Fix The World
Blog
House Rejects Obama-Backed, Pro-Union Amendment to FAA Reauthorization Bill
This afternoon, the House passed the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011. Perhaps the most contentious issue debated was a provision of the legislation that…
One News Now
Translation Services Not Required: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Does Not Require Special Accommodations for Limited English Proficiency Individuals
News Release
Victory for Worker Freedom
Contact: Lee Doren, 202-331-2259 Nicole Ciandella, 202-331-2773 UPDATE: CEI House of Representatives Labor Scorecard Washington, D.C., April 1, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Meritless, Massive Class Action Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart Should Be Dismissed
As a lawyer who used to bring class-action discrimination lawsuits for a living, I am puzzled by press sympathy for the massive, meritless class-action lawsuit…
One News Now
Costly Union Worker Special Favor Barely Survives With Help of Two Michigan Republicans
News Release
CEI Vote Score Alert: Official Time Amendment to FAA Reauthorization Act
What: Gingrey Amendment # 29 to the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 H.R. 658 CEI Position: Yes The Competitive Enterprise Institute announced today…
The American Spectator
Unionization Through Regulation
Changing election rules to favor one side is something we usually associate with dictatorships. Yet a U.S. federal agency did just that recently, as…
News Release
CEI Vote Score Alert: FAA Amendment on Union Election Rule Change
What: LaTourette – Costello Amendment # 3 to the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 H.R. 658 CEI Position: No Washington, D.C., March 30,…
Blog
Virginia Sells Naming Rights to Highway Rest Stops
Faced with budget shortfalls and a steep $20 million annual operating cost, this week Virginia decided to sell naming rights to its 42 highway…
The American Spectator
US Supreme Court Hears Massive Wal Mart Discrimination Case
The American Spectator
The Class Action Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart is as Meritless as it is Massive
As a lawyer who used to bring class-action discrimination lawsuits for a living, I am puzzled by press sympathy for the massive, meritless class-action lawsuit…
Blog
Maine Gov. LePage Looks to Reform for Balanced Budget
Governor Paul LePage and Maine have skirted the public attention present in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan that have proposed budget reform bills. Maine has proposed…
The American Spectator
Is Obama Pro-Immigration?
A persistent myth about President Obama is that he is pro-immigration. Obama’s rhetoric may be pro-immigration, but his actions reveal that he is the most…
Blog
Wisconsin Judge’s Strange Ruling Blocking Limits on Collective Bargaining Surprises Legal Observers
Wisconsin legal observers were “surprised last week when Madison-based judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of Gov. Scott Walker’s bill…
