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
NYC Rubber Rooms Still Packed
Just three years ago, New York City Mayor Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers publicly heralded a deal to end "rubber rooms," the reassignment…
Blog
California Labor Board Rejects Farm Workers’ Petition to Decertify Union
On September 25, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board denied a petition submitted by Gerawan Farming workers to decertify the United Farm Workers union.
Blog
Farm Workers Resist Union Representation
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board show that less than 10 percent of employees actually voted for their…
Blog
Labor Department Imposes Disability Hiring Quotas, Even in Divisions that Don’t Get Federal Contracts
The Obama Labor Department has just finalized rules that will effectively require businesses that get federal contracts to adopt a 7 percent hiring quota for the…
Free Beacon
IBEW Criticizes EPA’s New Coal Emission Standards
“The unions oppose President Obama’s new coal rule for a simple reason: It’s terrible for the economy,” said William Yeatman, an energy policy expert at…
Blog
Private Lobbyists and Public Pensions Don’t Mix
Government officials mismanaging public funds is nothing new. But giving public pensions to private lobbyists is a new low. A recent Associated Press report uncovered…
Blog
Private lobbyists collecting public pensions is illegal gift
State and local pension funds face unfunded liabilities ranging from $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to various reports. This is well-known problem and many…
Free Beacon
CEI’s Patterson: Right-to-Work Laws Represent ‘Common Sense’
Matt Patterson, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is a strong advocate of states with right-to-work laws. These laws…
Blog
Worker Centers Collecting Federal Funds
This summer, worker centers gained public notoriety with staged strikes at fast-food restaurants and Wal-Mart. Their effectiveness in gaining media attention has not been lost…
Providence Journal
Private lobbyists collecting public pensions is illegal gift
State and local pension funds face unfunded liabilities ranging from $3 trillion to $5 trillion, according to various reports. This is well-known problem and many…
Blog
DOL Finalizes Companionship Rule
With little notice, on September 17, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez finalized a rule to extend the Fair Labor Standards Act--minimum wage and overtime protections--to nearly…
Blog
More Harm from “Disparate Impact” Regulations
Earlier, we wrote about the Obama administration’s attempt to inject a race-conscious “disparate impact” provision into colorblind anti-discrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act,…
Providence Journal
Wisconsin teachers union decertified in latest blow to labor under Walker law
But Matt Patterson, labor analyst with the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, claimed the vote was a sign that workers were turning their backs on…
Blog
Third Largest Wisconsin Teachers Union Members Exercise New Freedom
This week Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's government-sector collective bargaining reform was upheld in Federal District Court.
Providence Journal
UAW hopes to get recognition at Chattanooga VW plant without vote
Anti-union groups are already openly fighting the UAW’s move to organize at the plant. One, the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, even put a message on…
Blog
Update on American Airlines-US Airways Merger: Judge Approves American’s Bankruptcy Plan
Today, Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved American Airlines’s reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy protection,…
Providence Journal
UAW says most Chattanooga workers want union while opponents fear the worst, call for secret ballot
But, Matt Patterson, senior fellow for the Center for Economic Freedom at the Washington, D.C.-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he’s skeptical the UAW even has…
News Release
D.C. Mayor Rightly Vetoes Union-Backed Wage Bill
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a union-backed bill that would have levied an especially high minimum…
News Release
Kenosha Teachers Vote Down Union, Empowered by Wisconsin Labor Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 12, 2013 – Today, teachers in Kenosha, Wis., voted to decertify their union, the Kenosha Education Association, by a margin of nearly…
Blog
D.C. Agrees to Costly Project Labor Agreement
It is well-documented that Project Labor Agreements drive up costs, by some estimates up to 12 to 18 percent. This is because PLA's subvert competitive…
Blog
SEIU Celebrates Siphoning Millions from Home Care Providers
A SEIU Healthcare Illinois-Indiana press release announced an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first organizing win over home care providers. According to…
Blog
Longshore Union’s Exit from AFL-CIO Illustrates Bad Feature of U.S. Labor Law
The largest longshoremen’s union in the West Coast has decided to leave the AFL-CIO. While this may be an internecine organized labor fight, it…
Blog
Louisville Subsidizes Union Activity
A plague on taxpayer funds known as union release time infects nearly every state and municipal government coffers. This inappropriate government expenditure/practice excuses public employees…
Blog
New Estimate: Public Pensions Underfunded by $4.1 Trillion
One of the challenges in addressing the underfunding of public pensions is determining how big the funding gaps are. Estimates vary because of disagreement over…
Blog
Scholars React to President’s Call to Shrink Law School from Three Years to Two
We earlier discussed (and agreed with) President Obama’s suggestion that law schools cut their length of study to two years from the current three…
Human Events
Entrepreneurial Immigrants: America’s Lifeblood
It’s a story as American as apple pie: An immigrant comes to the United States, starts a business and becomes the proud owner of a…
Human Events
Volkswagen and UAW Are Getting Cozier, but Will They Ultimately Match Up?
The UAW also remains staunchly opposed over any aims in Chattanooga by politicians in Tennessee, a conservative redoubt where much of the opposition to the Detroit…
Human Events
VW and UAW meet over U.S plant, report says
Critics argue that the union’s bargaining style is partly to blame for the recent struggles of Detroit’s automakers. One anti-union group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
Big Labor Public Outrage Pays Dividends
In what should not be much of a surprise, the Obama administration is looking to quell labor leaders complaints over Obamacare by offering them taxpayer…
Blog
By Opposing Airline Merger, Obama Risks Wrath of Powerful Unions
When the Department of Justice unexpectedly filed suit to block the merger between US Airways and American Airlines, I noted that unions representing various workers…
Blog
Honoring Entry-Level Positions
Today, as has been publicized for weeks now, fast-food workers across the country are expected to walk off the their jobs. The union organized movement…
Huffington Post
Don’t Let Entrepreneurs Become a Casualty of the Immigration Impasse
Eberhard Anheuser came to America as a soap and candle maker in 1842. When he died, his company had pioneered the pasteurization of beer. Marcus…
Huffington Post
Activists and workers protest minimum wage and working conditions at fast food restaurants across Boston
Critics of the fast food protest movement say that the minimum wage was never meant to support a family and that the government should not…
Study
America Still Needs a True Entrepreneurship Visa
Immigrant entrepreneurs have long helped drive America’s economy. However, bureaucratic restrictions make coming to America to start a new business extremely difficult, and the current…
News Release
America Needs More Immigrant Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 28, 2013 – As Labor Day approaches, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is spotlighting one of the hardest working groups of…
Blog
Playing Politics with Public Pensions
Many public pension plans around the nation are severely underfunded. The 2008 financial crisis, which wiped out many pension investments, has focused the public’s and…
Blog
Lobbyists at the State Public Trough
Who is a public employee? The answer to that should be simple: Someone who works directly for a government entity. But in 20 states, the…
Blog
Union Special Privilege Under Scrutiny
In response to a Miami Herald report, a Miami-Dade County Commissioner is sponsoring legislation to eliminate or reduce the practice of allowing government employees…
Blog
President Obama: Cut Law School from Three Years to Two
President Obama, a lawyer who once was a lecturer at the University of Chicago, recently urged law schools to reduce the length of study from three years…
Blog
Big Labor versus the Obama Administration
In the 2012 federal election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 91 percent of labor unions campaign funds went to Democrats. One would…
Blog
Court Strikes Down another Obama NLRB appointment
If you cant' get legislation through Congress, then make policy through regulation. Until the courts get in the way. The former has been the Obama administration's…
Blog
Fast Food Workers Should Be Wary of Union Tactics
A Big Labor backed coalition is calling for a nationwide strike among fast-food workers on August 29. The walkout is part of a larger campaign,…
Blog
Worker Centers Need Oversight
In response to Rep. John Kline and Phil Roe’s letter to the Department of Labor asking for a determination whether or not “worker centers” should…
Blog
Detroit’s Pension Fight: Coming to a City Near You?
The bankruptcy of Detroit is an unusual event, but its uniqueness lies mainly in its severity. Municipal governments across the nation are struggling to bring…
Huffington Post
United Auto Workers fairy tales
Once upon a time, in Chattanooga a young girl made her way to work, picking flowers to add to her basket of posies which she…
Blog
Labor Unions Blast Obama’s American Airlines-US Airways Merger Lawsuit
Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed suit to block the planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I…
Blog
Labor Department Meddles in California Transit Dispute
California public transit unions seem to have found a new, powerful bargaining tactic: If you don’t get your way in the legislature, threaten your state’s…
Blog
3 Things You May Not Know about the US Airways-American Airlines Merger Lawsuit
On Tuesday, August 13, the Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia filed suit to block the planned $11 billion merger…
Blog
Let in More Foreign Doctors to Fix Looming Shortage of Physicians Aggravated by Obamacare
“Bring on the foreign doctors,” writes Slate’s Brian Palmer: If President Obama’s health care reform plan is implemented in its current form, the United…
Blog
ALEC Puts Forth Ideas for State Pension Reform
Public awareness of the scope of the state public pension crisis seems to be growing every day. That's a welcome development, in that it has…
