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
Human Events
Big Labor’s Privileged Position
Today, an important hearing gets underway in Washington, D.C. that started with a billboard. Well, not quite. But that phrasing makes for better copy. Hearings…
Trib Live
The secret ballot: Protect it
A new report on the United Auto Workers' attempt to organize Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., makes clear the need to better protect workers' right…
Blog
The NLRB Shows Union Favoritism
Unions have always had special privileges in America, but ever since 1973, when United States v. Enmons exempted them from compliance with the Hobbs Act,…
Blog
Paycheck Protection and Union Dishonesty
Paycheck protection and right-to-work are under siege in Missouri’s continuing labor fight.
Blog
CEI Testifies against National Labor Relations Board Rule to Allow Ambush Elections
On three separate panels, I testified last week against the flaws inherent in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) latest proposed rule. The NLRB…
News Release
CEI Report: Secret Ballot in Union Elections in Peril
WASHINGTON, April 16 – A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report by policy analyst Trey Kovacs documents efforts by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to…
Study
How the UAW Lost Tennessee
In 2011, after state tax incentives lured Volkswagen to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the UAW saw its best chance of making the goal of unionizing a foreign…
Blog
Unions Attack Right-to-Work
The battle over Right-to-Work is heating up in Missouri, as proponents and opponents pour on the rhetoric.
Blog
CEI’s WorkplaceChoice.org Scores Paycheck Fairness Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute scored Wednesday’s vote in the U.S. Senate on the passage of S. 3772, The Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would…
Blog
EEOC Loses Hypocritical Lawsuit against Employer over Background Checks
"In this case the EEOC sued the defendants for using the same type of background check that the EEOC itself uses." So began a…
Blog
Threatening Free Speech, New Jersey Court Allows Parents to Be Sued for Children’s Facebook Posts
Earlier, we wrote about a Wisconsin town whose ordinance holds parents liable for bullying by their children, including certain speech. We and law professor…
Blog
Ryan FY 2015 Budget Calls for Transportation Funding Rationalization
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., released his FY 2015 budget today. In just three pages, he calls for surprisingly sensible reforms to…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 27, 2014: Bait and Reciprocal Switch
CEI Fellow Marc Scribner talks about his new paper, “Bait and Reciprocal Switch: Forced Access Regulation Threatens the Rail Renaissance.”…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Autonomous Vehicles, from Imagination to Reality
[caption id="attachment_55209" align="alignright" width="300"] CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in a Google self-driving car in May 2012. (Photo by Marc…
Washington Times
More Overtime Rules Enrich Obama
The Washington Times‘ editorial board notes that the Obama administration is poised to introduce “new and murkier definitions of overtime eligibility” that will “stifle job…
Blog
Ohio Constitution Prohibits Union Release Time
Yesterday, Media Trackers reported the Ohio Centerville Classroom Teachers Association membership agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that is still waiting on approval from…
Blog
Car Dealership Takes Advantage of Union Tactics
A common practice of labor unions is to use myriad tactics -- protests, picketing, intimidation, and coordinating with progressive allies -- to apply pressure on…
Blog
Minimum Wage Increase Is Still Bad Policy
For the past two years, President Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum wage in his State of the Union address. The main…
Blog
The “California Rule” and the “The Fall of Pacific Grove”
In my previous post, I described the "California rule," which puts state governments in a legal straitjacket when trying to reform underfunded public pensions.
Blog
The Law Should Not Enable Union Violence
A general contractor is approached by a representative of a local union and told he “needed to hire a certain number of his guys.” When…
Blog
How the “California Rule” Holds Back Pension Reform
These days, local governments announcing bankruptcy seems like routine in California. Since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, many state and local governments have…
Blog
To Enact Pension Reform, Make Good Policy Good Politics
In my previous post, I looked at some basic principles that should guide state policy makers when tackling pension reform. Now, we turn to the…
Blog
Who Wants to See Their State Go Broke?
Few people would raise their hands when asked that question. But actually putting a state's financing on sound footing is difficult in practice. That makes…
Blog
Obama FY 2015 Budget: Aviation Funding Recommendation Not Great, But a Step in the Right Direction
President Obama released his Fy 2015 budget today. Like his past budgets, as I noted in a previous post discussing the highway and…
Blog
“The bill doesn’t come due until well after the legislators who wrote the check have left office”
Thus describes an Illinois state Senator the challenge states face in reforming their public employee pension systems. Given that reality, it's astounding reform would ever…
Blog
Michigan Unions Intimidate Workers Who Take Advantage of Right-to-Work
It seems ever time union privilege is threatened, unions turn to intimidation.
Blog
Bad Highway Policy Is a Bipartisan Affair
Two major pieces of surface transportation policy news dropped this week. President Obama is readying the release of his budget, which will contain over $300…
Blog
Missouri Constitution Protects Workers’ Paychecks
Legislators in Missouri are attempting to enact paycheck protection legislation that would end the practice of using government resources to collect dues from government union…
Blog
Vermont Child Care Unionization Bill Is Back
In Vermont, home child care providers have rallied together to fend off unwanted legislation that would allow unions to organize providers in the 2012 and…
Blog
Federal Employment Is Not a Full Time Job
An excellent editorial by the Investor's Business Daily staff questioned whether "government work is a full time job?"…
Blog
UAW Cites “Interference,” Appeals Volkswagen Vote
In an example of the pot calling the kettle black, the United Auto Workers union has filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board…
Blog
GSA Contest to Identify and Reduce Travel Inefficiencies: Eliminate Official Time
According to a recent General Services Administration announcement, the agency is dolling out a combined $90,000 in prizes to individuals who can "design and create…
Blog
Big Labor’s Insatiable Greed
Yesterday, the Fiscal Times ran an article entitled, "Big Labor’s Mounting Feud with Barack Obama."…
Blog
Minimum Wage Increase to Wipe Out 500,000 Jobs
"Boosting the federal minimum wage as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are proposing" would "cut employment by roughly 500,000 jobs, Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst…
Blog
Phoenix City Council Disregards Union Release Time Ruling
In a prior post, I discussed how the Goldwater Institute has resurrected the constitutional amendment, known as the "Gift Clause," that restricts state and local…
Blog
Chicago Government Unions Advocate against the Public Interest
Proponents of public-sector unionism claim it creates amicable labor-management relations and leads to an efficient, effective government workforce, which in turn promotes the public interest.
Blog
Growing Support for Road User Charges Will Be Highlighted at March Conference
I’ve written about the importance of charging road users for their road use for some time. Moving toward a truly user-pays system will require significant…
Blog
UAW Loses Volkswagen Election
A little over two years ago, soon-to-be former United Auto Workers President Bob King said that “organizing foreign auto plants is a matter of life…
Blog
Mississippi Bills Aim to Eliminate Union Privileges
Yesterday, the Mississippi Senate passed three bills that rein in union privilege.
Blog
Union Support for Minimum and Living Wage Laws Based on Self-Interest
Across the country, labor unions advocate for increases in the minimum wage, along with proposals to create "living wage" laws. Unions publicly argue that these…
Blog
Ambush Elections Diminish the Understanding They Seek
Workers would have less time to study for their huge, life-changing test of whether to unionize, under a new, proposed Obama administration rule that nonsensically claims…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 12, 2014: Are Cell Phones Coming to an Airplane Near You?
CEI Fellow Marc Scribner opposes a bill that would ban in-flight cell phone usage on airplanes. He believes that decision should be left to airlines,…
Blog
Unintended Consequences of Employee Rights Poster Rule
In the past several years, both the National Labor Relations Board and Department of Labor have required various kinds of employers to hang a "poster"…
Blog
House Committee to Markup Bill Banning In-Flight Cell Phone Calls
Tomorrow morning (Tuesday, February 11), the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will markup the Prohibiting In-Flight Voice Communications on Mobile Wireless Devices Act (H.R.
Blog
More Equality in the U.S. Than in Europe: When the Minimum Wage Buys More in the U.S.
France and England may have higher minimum wages than most of the U.S. does, but things cost so much there that minimum-wage workers can afford less stuff…
Blog
NLRB Proposes Ambush Election Regulation
As I previously noted in a December post, as soon as the National Labor Relations Board settled its lawsuit with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce…
Blog
NLRB Pro-Union Bias Takes Away Worker Choice
Now that the National Labor Relations Board -- the agency responsible for governing private-sector labor disputes -- has a full quorum, it is ready to…
Blog
USDOT Calls for Connected Vehicle Mandate; Security and Privacy Concerns Remain
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today it would chart a regulatory path that would require all new automobiles to be equipped with…
Blog
Long-Suspected TSA Abuse and Incompetence Confirmed by Former TSA Employee
Politico Magazine has a disturbing article by former transportation security officer Jason Edward Harrington. At least it would be disturbing if it wasn’t largely just a confirmation…
Blog
State of the Union: More on the President’s Debunked Wage Gap Claim
Aloysius Hogan has already debunked the president's wage gap claim in his State of the Union Address in an earlier post, noting that labor…
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