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
Court rejects New York bid to take over federal labor enforcement
An effort by the New York legislature to usurp the role of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency,…
Law & Liberty
America’s Hidden Judiciary
Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal regulatory agencies have their own court system for adjudicating disputes that businesses and citizens have with regulators. These agencies rely…
Blog
New York, California make a play for federal labor law enforcement
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency, currently lacks a quorum to act. Ordinarily, that type of federal…
Search Posts
Blog
Liberal Senators Make False Claims About Supreme Court’s Ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, During Kagan Confirmation Hearings
Liberal Senators like Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are peddling fables about a Supreme Court ruling, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Blog
Anti-stripper law could create more prostitution
As so many journalists have punned, recently passed anti-stripping legislation makes the “Don’t Show Me” state a far more appropriate nickname for Missouri. Yesterday, Gov.
Blog
Supreme Court Dooms Chicago Gun Ban; Obama Judicial Nominees Oppose Gun Rights; Religious Clubs Lose First Amendment Case; Removal of High-Ranking Bureaucrats Made Easier
The Supreme Court doomed Chicago’s handgun ban Monday by ruling 5-to-4 that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments…
Citation
Spreading Lies on the Ledbetter Case
Blog
Life Imitates The Simpsons – again
The Politico reports that Sen. Harry Reid (D.-NV) has hit on a new scheme for passing the chronically unpopular climate legislation that has been…
Op-Eds
Arizona Declares War on Capitalism
The most persistent misunderstanding about Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, SB 1070, is that it is about security. The law’s supporters argue that there is…
Blog
New Federal Interference With Oil-Spill Clean-Up: Feds Stop Louisiana From Dredging Needed to Create Protective Sand Berms
A TV station in New Orleans reports that “the federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand…
Blog
Stimulus Package to Cost $75 Billion More Than Predicted; Plus, Government-Employee Bailout Sought
The stimulus package is going to cost at least $75 billion more than the $787 billion the Obama administration claimed, according to the Congressional…
Op-Eds
Constitutionality Aside, Look at the Economic Damage
Last week, the Obama administration confirmed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will file a lawsuit to challenge Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070 before…
Op-Eds
The Great Immigration Deception
Arizona’s controversial immigration law and Democratic responses to it have ignited a fierce political fight that will only intensify as the law goes into…
Newsletter
Oil Spill Assistance, Immigration Crackdown and Money for Nothing
The White House refused to allow foreign ships to assist with cleanup of the BP oil spill. Arizona’s immigration crack-down inspires a public referendum on…
Blog
Obama Administration Blocks Clean-Up of Oil Spill by Louisiana and Foreign Allies By Imposing Red Tape
The Obama Administration recently used red tape to force Louisiana to stop using 16 barges that were cleaning up the Gulf…
Op-Eds
The New King of Detroit
Yesterday, the United Auto Workers union (UAW) named Bob King as its new president. Does this mean a change in direction for one of…
Blog
Obama Uses Oil Spill to Push Failed Energy Policies
In his speech last night, President Obama used the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to push his failed energy policies, such…
Study
A Drought of Reason and Investigation
An Examination and Critique of the Center for Immigration Studies’ “A Drought of Summer Jobs”…
Blog
Financial “Reform” Bill Engages in Racial Engineering, While Ignoring Corrupt Mortgage Giants
Congress and the Obama administration refused to do anything about the corrupt government-sponsored mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even though administration…
Blog
Obama Blocked Clean Up of BP Oil Spill by Friendly Countries; International Assistance Blocked by Regulations Obama Had The Authority To Waive
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of the…
Blog
Obama Wants Taxpayers to Cough Up $50 Billion To Bail Out Public-Employee Unions
President Obama now wants Congress to spend $50 billion to keep state governments from laying off government employees. In essence, this is a bailout…
Op-Eds
Obama Refuses to Waive Law to Allow Foreign Help With Oil Spill
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of…
Blog
Obama Fires Inspector General Who Uncovered Fraud, and Honors Defrauder Instead
Earlier, President Obama fired the inspector general for the AmeriCorps program after he uncovered fraud by Obama crony Kevin Johnson. (Johnson did not…
Newsletter
Murkowski v. EPA, Big Labor and Debit Card Fees
The Senate will vote today on Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act. Arkansas…
Op-Eds
Halter’s Loss a Major Blow for Big Labor
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s failure to win his state’s Democratic nomination was a crushing defeat for organized labor, which went all-out…
Blog
BP Supported Obama Stimulus Package, Global Warming Bill, and Corporate Welfare; BP Bankrolled Obama Campaign
Columnist Tim Carney notes that BP, responsible for the massive oil spill, is “a close friend of big government whenever it serves the company’s…
Blog
Halter’s Loss a Major Blow for Big Labor
Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter’s failure to win his state’s Democratic nomination is a crushing defeat for organized labor, which went all-out in…
Blog
Obama Uses BP Oil Spill to Push Corporate-Welfare-Filled Global Warming Bill That BP Once Lobbied For
Talk about chutzpah. President Obama, the biggest recipient of campaign cash from BP, is using BP’s oil spill to push for a global…
Blog
Media Give Disgraced Politician Eliot Spitzer a Soapbox to Lecture the Public
Eliot Spitzer, who was forced out as Governor of New York after paying prostitutes tens of thousands of dollars and then violating federal finance laws…
Blog
Obama Administration Pushes More Bailouts at Taxpayer Expense; America to Bail Out Corrupt Union Pension Funds
The Obama administration and its congressional allies are now pushing for billions more in bailouts for mismanaged union pension funds, and teachers unions. The union…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Next Bailout Beneficiaries: Corrupt Union Pension Funds
The Obama administration and its congressional allies are now pushing for billions more in bailouts for mismanaged union pension funds, and teachers unions.
Blog
Divorce Courts Mistreat America’s Soldiers and Small Businesses
Memorial Day is an opportunity to thank our troops, and open our eyes to the disgraceful way they are treated by divorce courts. The bias…
Blog
Massive Fare Hike in Washington, D.C. Subway System; Public Sacrifices, Overpaid Union Doesn’t
The mismanaged Washington, D.C. Metro system is pushing through huge fare hikes, not only increasing subway and bus fares, but adding a new 20…
Blog
Myths About Green Energy: The Truth Is, It’s Corporate Welfare That Destroys American Jobs
In The Washington Post, Robert Bryce debunks five myths about green energy: it won’t create jobs, won’t help the environment, and won’t make America…
Citation
Senate Considers Union Pension Bailout
Blog
Concessions Can Bridge Budget Gaps
In 1958, Chicago opened the 7.8-mile Chicago Skyway, an elevated tollway linking the downtown Chicago Loop with the Indiana Toll Road. Due to poor…
Newsletter
ClimateGate, Immigration and Discrimination Law
CEI files a lawsuit to force NASA to turn over documents relating to ClimateGate. The Department of Justice may sue over Arizona’s immigration law. The…
The Washington Times
Look for the Union Fable
Flanked by representatives from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, YRC Transportation and ABF Freight Systems, Sen. Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democrat, proposed a massive bailout…
Blog
California: Leading the Way in Failure
As one might expect of California, successful transportation public-private partnerships (P3s) face many government hurdles. In the early 1990s, the California Department of Transportation…
Blog
Get Spit On, Take Three Months Off
Last year, angry New Yorkers spit on bus drivers 51 times. The average driver took 64 days of paid leave to recover.
Opposing Views
NYC Bus Drivers Take 3 Paid Months Off After Passengers Spit on Them
New Yorkers have a reputation for being rude. But they are also a sensitive lot. Especially bus drivers. Last year, angry customers literally spit on…
Blog
Stimulus Package Increases Trade Deficit: Replaces U.S. Jobs with Foreign “Green Jobs”
The $800 billion stimulus package is shipping American jobs overseas. More than 79 percent of “green jobs” funding under the stimulus package went to…
Blog
The Increasing Role of Road Concessions
Increasing private sector involvement in transportation should be seen as a positive development. However, there are right ways to involve private firms, and…
Blog
Senate Passes Financial “Reform” Bill, 59-39; Will Wipe Out Jobs and Increase Credit Card Costs
The Senate has just passed a 1,500 page financial “reform” bill that deliberately leaves unreformed the corrupt mortgage giants that spawned the financial crisis–while…
Opposing Views
Mexican Hypocrisy? U.S. Neighbor Has Its Own Tough Take on Immigration
Newsletter
Immigration Reform, SCOTUS and “Market Fundamentalism”
The New York Times reports that younger people are more likely to favor liberalized immigration policy than the baby boomer generation. The Supreme Court’s decision…
Blog
Preempting State Pension Bailouts
Congress has long used its control of the federal government’s purse strings as a club with which to force states to change laws that fall…
Opposing Views
Immigration Reform Should Focus on Security
The recent arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bombing suspect, has reopened the debate on immigration and national security. Shahzad is an immigrant…
Blog
Radical Law Professor Goodwin Liu Approved as High-Ranking Judge by Senate Judiciary Committee, on Party-Line Vote
Radical law professor Goodwin Liu was approved to sit on the federal appeals court for the Ninth Circuit in a party-line, 12-to-7…
Newsletter
Drug Ads, Debit Card Fees and Labor Finances
The Food and Drug Administration moves to crack down on the advertising of prescription medicines for “off-label” uses. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) pushes for limits…
Blog
Democrats Block Reform of Corrupt Mortgage Giants; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Will Receive Billions More in Bailouts for Government-Sponsored Enterprises
In a party-line, 56-to-43 vote yesterday, Senate Democrats blocked any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the corrupt, government-backed mortgage giants that…
Blog
D.C. Rail Fetishists Propose “Free” Trolleys
If you believe the “city of northern charm and southern efficiency” is geared solely toward imposing stupid, expensive directives on the rest of the country,…
Blog
Taxpayers to Put Up Billions More for Bailouts of Greece and Corrupt Mortgage Giant
Government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac is demanding another $10.6 billion in bailouts, which the Obama administration is expected to give it. Obama’s so-called…
Blog
General Motors Accused of Fraud Over Misleading Claim That It Paid Back Taxpayers; CEI Files FTC Complaint
The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a complaint today against General Motors with the Federal Trade Commission, over…
Opposing Views
GM’s Tricky Payback
President Obama’s tax-cheat treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, is trumpeting the fact that General Motors has paid back a small fraction of what taxpayers…
Blog
ObamaRail: Great for Railfans, Bad for Transportation
In 2000, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment (the “Monorail Initiative“) authorizing the creation of a high-speed intercity rail network. However, as the economy…
Newsletter
Anti-Immigration Backlash, Renewable Energy and Chris Horner’s “Power Grab”
California lawmakers call for economic sanctions against Arizona in retaliation for its new immigration law Documents show that Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi has…
Opposing Views
Seeing Red
On Monday in the Washington Times, Service Employee International Union (SEIU) Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger—a protégée of outgoing SEIU President Andrew Stern—defended her and…
Opposing Views
Conservatives, Disaster Awaits If We Don’t Embrace Immigration Reform
SB 1070, Arizona’s new and strict immigration enforcement law has torn a hole right through the center of American political discourse. Sold as an…
Opposing Views
Union Election May Signal a Shift in Strategy
Blog
Hypocritical California Government Boycotts Against Arizona Over Immigration Law
“Representatives at three levels of California government were quick to call for economic measures against neighboring Arizona this week in the wake of its…
Blog
“Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Say the Stimulus Isn’t Working”
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans do not believe the $787 billion stimulus package the president passed last year has helped create jobs, according to a…
Opposing Views
General Motors Still Losing Billions (Letter to the Editor)
The Washington Times was right to criticize the Obama administration for its misleading hype about General Motors repaying $6.7 billion of the $50…
Blog
Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Cross; Gay-Marriage Opponents Will Lose Privacy Battle; Controversial Judicial Nominees; Wal-Mart Faces Mega-Lawsuit
In a splintered ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that a trial judge erred in issuing an injunction against a cross honoring veterans. It…
Opposing Views
Republicans Can Win the Immigration Reform Battle
Arizona’s new strict anti-immigration law SB 1070 is the most recent and loudest salvo in the immigration debate. President Obama and the Democratic leadership…
Blog
ObamaCare Vastly Expands IRS Red Tape and Power, Raises Medical and Insurance Costs, Taxes, and Deficits, and Harms Very Sick People
“Billions of more documents” will be have to be filled out by small businesses for the IRS so that a “spendthrift Congress can shake…
Newsletter
Illegal Immigration, SEC Porn and Financial Reform
Arizona’s new immigration bill has brought immigration reform to the forefront of national debate. The blogosphere is abuzz with the news that employees of the…
Opposing Views
Economists: Stimulus Didn’t Contribute to Economic Rebound
“The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government’s stimulus package and jobs bill had little to…
Reason
Legalize it (Immigration Edition)
American Spectator
Fixing America’s Immigration Black Market
From Arizona to the U.S. Senate, immigration is at the forefront of the national debate. Much of the concern revolves around this fact: There is…
Blog
“Economists: The Stimulus Didn’t Help”
“The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government’s stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with…
Blog
The War of the SEIU Succession Is Over, or Is It?
The battle over who would succeed outgoing Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern (picture above, next to President Obama) appears to be over,…
Blog
Center-Right Coalition Letter Opposes Toxic Provisions in Dodd Bill
Below is a letter sent today to the Senate that was signed by several prominent groups in the Center-Right Coalition expressing “grave concerns about the…
American Spectator
Andy Stern’s Debts
Purple may be the official color of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), but Andy Stern is leaving the union deep in the red.
News Release
Gov. Brewer Signs Arizona Immigration Enforcement Bill
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Blog
Public Employee Unions’ Suffocating Grip on California
The current issue of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal features a must-read account of how government employee unions have turned California into “The Beholden…
Blog
General Motors Repays Tiny Portion of Taxpayers’ $50 Billion Bailout; Obama Backers Bash Critics of Bailout
President Obama’s tax-cheat treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, is trumpeting the fact that General Motors has paid back…
Blog
The Private Provision of Surface Transportation Infrastructure in the United States
Private sector involvement in surface transportation infrastructure is not new. Public and private turnpikes—roads that require the payment of a toll for passage—have existed for…
Newsletter
Salt Police, Pensions and Union Contracts
The FDA is launching a new initiative to limit the amount of salt in processed food. The White House task force on the middle class…
Blog
SEIU Recruits College Students as Muscle
At Biggovernment.com, the writer known as Liberty Chick offers a good, concise summary of the corporate campaign being waged by the Service Employees International…
Blog
Big Labor Pension Strategy: United States of Argentina?
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern made a big splash last week, when he announced his retirement from leading what is arguably America’s…
Blog
Taxpayers Take Another Hit from Obama; Administration Panders Yet Again to Big Labor
Taxpayers will pay billions more due to an executive order signed by President Obama that effectively restricts federal construction contracts to the minority of construction…
Newsletter
Unions, New Taxes and GM Crops
Andy Stern is leaving his post as head of the Service Employees International Union. The Obama Administration may soon propose a Value Added Tax (VAT).
Blog
Stern Jumps off Sinking Pension Ship
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern plans to retire as head of the union that he helped to transform into the most…
American Spectator
Fix America’s Immigration System by Focusing on Security
America’s immigration bureaucracies are rife with waste and inefficiency. Yet taxpayer dollars are not the only thing they put at risk. The nation’s security…
Spectator
Coal Workers Are Heroes
American Spectator discusses the West Virginia coal mining tragedy with Iain Murray. The coal mining tragedy in West Virginia shows that we should…
Spectator
I Got People Too
Like John, I "got people" too. Here is a summary of points made in response to the question by my Competitive Enteprise Institute colleague,…
Spectator
Dem-Packed NLRB May Rush Through Pro-Union Rulings
Newsletter
State Pensions, Cesar Chavez, and Wine Deliveries
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is trying to boost the state economy by reforming state employee pension plans. President Obama declares March 31th “Cesar Chavez Day”…
Spectator
National ID Card could be the cornerstone of comprehensive immigration reform
Spectator
Realistic Immigration Laws are Needed (Letter to the Editor)
Rep. Lamar Smith’s "Adhere to rule of law on immigration policy" (Nation, March 24) argues that conservative principles demand a respect for the rule…
Blog
Intern Sweatshops?
Jeffrey Miron comments on state officials’ claim that increasing the use of unpaid (or barely paid) interns might run afoul of minimum wage laws.
Blog
Virginia Shows the Way in Taking on the Pensions Crisis
As the federal government continues to expand at an ever-growing pace, the Old Dominion is doing things differently. As The Richmond Times-Dispatch explains,…
Blog
Cesar Chavez Day – Interesting Timing
March 31 was Cesar Chavez Day. Cesar Chavez Day has been celebrated in California for some time. But this year, for the first time, it…
Blog
The Numbers on Public Sector Unions and State Debt
In today’s Washington Examiner, David Freddoso outlines the close correlation between state government debt and public sector unions. As he notes, “the states with…
Blog
The Case Against Subsidized High-Speed Rail
President Obama’s stimulus package set aside $8 billion in subsidies for high-speed rail projects in the United States (known as the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail…
Blog
Coming Soon: The Auto Purchase Mandate
As threatened, the new CAFE standards have arrived, with the EPA muscling in on territory reserved by statute to the Transportation Department. As Marlo Lewis…
Blog
Bailout Watch: Union and Public Employee Pensions
As the strain on state and local government budgets around the country worsens, public employee unions have gone on the defensive, painting themselves as scapegoats…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 131: Airport Vendors
Laws are supposed to be made by legislative branch, not the executive. What we have here is one more case of regulation without representation, out…
Newsletter
Big Labor, Stimulus Money, and the Census
Washingtonian magazine interviews union president Andy Stern. The Mercatus Center publishes a study on how the $800 billion stimulus package was distributed. Daily Kos reports…
Spectator
Scuttle the National ID (Letter to the Editor)
The article "Immigrant rights advocates pressure Obama" (Politics, March 12) detailed this month’s White House immigration meeting but curiously omitted talks about a national…
Blog
Washingtonian mag: Stern is “union boss number one”
The current issue of Washingtonian magazine features a long, fairly in-depth interview with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern, whom author Chris…
Blog
“We’re twisting arms. We’re threatening people.”
So said United Teachers of Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy at a rally, which reason.tv now makes available in a new video on public…
