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
Union Spending against Right-to-Work Efforts
According to an Associated Press report, several states are eyeing labor law reforms to end the practice of forcing employees to pay union dues as…
Blog
Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act, Part 2: Union Recertification
In Part 1 of "Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act," the focus was on the ERA provision that mandates secret-ballot elections and how a…
Blog
BLS Data: Government Workers Miss Work 50 Percent More than Private Sector Workers
A blog post at buyhappiness.net cites recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data and reports that in 2012…
Blog
Why Workers Deserve the Employee Rights Act, Part 1: Secret Ballot Elections
In November, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Tom Price (R-Ga.) introduced the Employee Rights Act, a bill that strengthens federal labor law to protect…
Blog
NLRB General Counsel: Guidance on Micro-Unions is Coming
Last Friday, at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Manhattan, the National Labor Relations Board general counsel Richard Griffin said the Board…
Blog
Minimum Wage Increases Harm the Young, Unskilled, and Less Educated
Minimum wage increases eliminate some jobs. Real world examples abound. As a business owner explains: The minimum wage kills jobs. End of story. I am…
Blog
GOVERNMENT UNIONS BROKE – AND NOW MUST FIX – DETROIT
Government unions broke Detroit. And unions – over their most stringent objections – are going to play a significant part in fixing it.
Blog
NLRB Ambush Elections Coming Soon
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board's savvy legal maneuver takes the labor agency one step closer to finalizing its ambush election regulation.
Washington Post
How Australia’s minimum wage differs from America’s (Letter)
Eugene Robinson [“An issue Democrats can win on,” op-ed, Dec. 7] argued that America’s minimum wage should be increased in part because it is lower…
Blog
Busybodies in Congress Prepared to Re-Prohibit Voice Communications During Flight
After two decades with a ban on the books, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider allowing transmitting mobile devices on aircraft. On…
Human Events
Government unions broke – and now must fix – Detroit
Government unions broke Detroit. And unions – over their most stringent objections – are going to play a significant part in fixing it. U.S. Bankruptcy…
Blog
President Pushes Welfare Rather than Opportunity and Social Mobility in Speech about Inequality
"President Obama on Wednesday declared that addressing income inequality would be the focus of 'all' of the White House’s efforts 'for the rest of…
Blog
Union Release Time on the Ropes
Over two years ago, 16 NYPD officers were charged in a widespread ticket-fixing scam. And the criminal cases against the officers are still ongoing.
Blog
Labor Agencies’ Regulatory Agendas
As my colleague Wayne Crews comments in Forbes, the Obama administration tends to publish its regulatory agenda around holidays, or when "nobody is looking."…
News Release
Judge Upbraids Public-Sector Unions’ Refusal To Work To Clean Up The Mess They Made
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 – A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Tuesday that Detroit was eligible to enter Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which means all of the city’s…
Human Events
UAW chief’s legacy to be decided in South
The Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute even put a message on a billboard near the factory in June that said: “Auto unions ate Detroit. Next meal…
Blog
AT THANKSGIVING, BIG GROCERY & BIG LABOR ATTACK COMPETITOR WAL-MART
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who will visit a Wal-Mart on the biggest shopping weekend of the year, don’t be surprised if…
Human Events
At Thanksgiving, Big Grocery & Big Labor Attack Wal-Mart
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who will visit a Wal-Mart on the biggest shopping weekend of the year, don’t be surprised if…
Blog
Unions’ Taxpayer Subsidized Activity
Taxpayers expect their government to spend tax dollars only on activities that benefit the public. But in Kentucky, the City of Louisville and Jefferson County…
Real Clear Policy
Unions’ Taxpayer Subsidized Activity
Taxpayers expect their government to spend tax dollars only on activities that benefit the public. But in Kentucky, the City of Louisville and Jefferson County…
Blog
Dumbest Reason to Be Skeptical of Autonomous Vehicles: They Might Cost Auto Mechanics Their Jobs
Today, the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on “How Autonomous Vehicles Will Shape the Future…
Blog
NLRB Considers Proposing Ambush Election Rule…Again
Finally, after a decade, the National Labor Relations Board is fully staffed with five Senate-confirmed members.
Blog
New Committee to Investigate Michigan Teachers Union Right to Work Violations
Although Michigan's right-to-work legislation took effect in March of this year, teachers have raised concerns that unions are using strong-arm tactics that prohibit them from…
News Release
On Right-To-Work Amendment: ‘Bravo for Senators from Kentucky and Mississippi … Shame on Sen. Reid’
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 – Though their effort did not meet with success, U.S. Senators from Kentucky and Mississippi deserve thanks for their efforts to offer…
Human Events
I Don’t Hate the Government; Its Unions Are a Different Story
As a libertarian I am often asked why I “hate” the government. “Hate” is a strong word, so I’ll leave the question’s key assumption for…
Blog
Obama Administration Rule Exempts Big Labor from Obamacare Tax
In September, the Obama administration rejected union demands for subsidies offered under Obamacare, which are reserved for the uninsured and low-income workers.
Blog
Labor Ballot Measure Roundup
Voters around the country faced numerous ballot measures yesterday, of which many involved labor policy.
News Release
On Right-To-Work Amendment: ‘Bravo for Sen. McConnell and Sen. Paul – shame on Sen. Reid’
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 – Though their effort did not meet with success, Kentucky’s U.S. Senators deserve thanks for their efforts to offer a National Right…
Blog
Memo to Road Socialists: There Is Nothing Unlibertarian about Road Pricing
Virginia just elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor, as had been predicted by every poll conducted during the past few months -- although at a…
Blog
Senate Poised to Pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Yesterday, the Senate voted 61-to-30 to invoke cloture on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace bias based on sexual orientation or…
Blog
House Passes Bill to Delay DOL Overreach
Last week, 30 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representative joined Republicans to approve the Retail Investor Protection Act, which delays the Department of Labor's…
Blog
Happy Halloween! FAA to Allow Portable Electronic Devices During All Flight Phases
A month ago, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommended that the agency drop its ban on portable electronic device (PED)…
Blog
Congressional Scorecard Update–Richard Griffin Confirmation
Yesterday, the Senate voted 55-44 to confirm Richard Griffin as the National Labor Relations Board general counsel, with Senator Lisa Murkowski as the sole Republican…
Blog
Jane Brody’s Uninformed Attack on Cars and Suburbia
While at a conference where participants discussed the wannabe social engineers cum urbanists' war on automobility and housing affordability, Jane Brody's broadside against Americans'…
Blog
Racial Preferences in Obamacare, and Discrimination, Too, Based on Weird Ideology
The Daily Caller has an interesting story about race-conscious provisions and racial preferences contained in Obamacare. It's a subject that has received remarkably little…
Blog
Racial Preferences and Red Tape Grow Under Federal Dodd-Frank Act
Last Friday on National Review's The Corner, Roger Clegg wrote about the 2010 law governing the financial sector, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the racial "diversity quotas"…
News Release
Oppose Obama’s Pick For NLRB General Counsel
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 – Richard Griffin, one of three members of the National Labor Relations Board who lost their seats when their “recess” appointments were…
Blog
More Bipartisan Opposition to Obama Administration’s Move to Block Airline Merger (Including Rahm Emanuel)
Another day, another round of public bipartisan opposition to the Obama Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the pending American Airlines and US Airways merger.
Human Events
The Real Reasons We Have a Public Pensions Crisis
America’s public pension funds are in trouble because sketchy Mr. Wall Street sold some slack-jawed pension fund managers on risky investments with promises of high…
Blog
The NSA: Upgrading from Privacy Destruction to Job Destruction
At a recent Cato Institute event on NSA spying activities, the ACLU’s Chris Soghoian stated that NSA activities were not only a threat to…
The American Spectator
BART’s Bogus Ride
It was the 1970s and Britain was the “sick man of Europe.” Labor unions had toppled one Conservative government and were bullying the existing Labour…
Blog
Public Pensions Are Not Property
Across the nation, state and local governments in dire financial straits face great difficulty in their efforts to bring their budgets under control. Pensions are…
Blog
Loosened Laws in New Jersey Result in Brewery Boom
Only a year after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law that would allow breweries in the garden state to sell beer…
Products
Freedom of Information Act Requests on Official Time During Government Shutdown
The following are Freedom of Information Act requests seeking documents related…
Blog
Controversial NLRB General Counsel Nomination Vote Approaching
Now that the partial government shutdown is over, its back to business as usual. As such, the Senate will tackle the controversial nomination of Richard…
Blog
More than a Third of House Dems Oppose Obama’s American-US Airways Merger Lawsuit; What Real Pro-Competition Policy Looks Like
Bipartisan opposition to the Obama administration’s reckless assault on the pending merger of American Airlines and US Airways is growing. While the end of the…
Blog
More Myths About the Government Shutdown
Young people often don't realize that government shutdowns used to be common, until the middle of the Clinton administration. The George W. Bush presidency was an exception…
Blog
Boston Bus Drivers Illegal Strike
On October 8, hundreds of Boston Public School union bus drivers went on a surprise strike, which left nearly 33,000 kids without a ride to…
Blog
Obama Administration Memo: Keep Paying Union Bosses on Official Time
Over the weekend, the House unanimously passed the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act. If passed by the Senate, all furloughed federal employees will receive…
The American Spectator
Labor analyst: Volkswagen workers claim ‘misled’ by UAW
Matt Patterson, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the issue is important because, if it’s true, it would “significantly compromise” the union’s chances…
