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
Misnamed ‘Railway Safety Act’ advances in House
The misleadingly named Railway Safety Act pushed by the Trump administration was inserted in the Build America 250 Act today and passed out of the House…
Blog
DOL gets flexible on overtime
The Department of Labor (DOL) will formally reverse a Biden-era rule that expanded the number of workers eligible for overtime on Friday. Courts had…
News Release
Economy added 115,000 jobs in April, modest boost amidst economic uncertainty: CEI analysis
The jobs report for April shows 115,000 jobs were added to the economy, a modest boost compared to previous months. While unemployment remains unchanged…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Collective bargaining and government: A toxic brew
What happens when special interests gain control of the public purse? Some recent events provide a clue. At the start of this school year, in…
Blog
In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
Blog
Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
Blog
Work ‘til You Drop: Is This The Next European “Welfare?”
As Europe’s population ages, its widespread entitlement commitments will generate huge burdens on governments’ budgets. The economic consequences are easy to foresee: just think of…
Blog
State Pension Bailout Threat
The state pension underfunding crisis has grown so severe that it has prompted most U.S. states to cut benefits, according to calculations by The…
Daily Caller
Field of cash: If you offer, they will take
It has become a familiar ritual. Wealthy professional sports team owners ask state and local governments to subsidize their venues, threatening to skip town if…
Blog
State Capitalism Or Corporatism? Italy’s Carmaker Conundrum
Italy’s iconic car manufacturer, Fiat, announced Saturday its plans to keep its production base in Italy after months of threatening to leave for more…
Blog
Chicago strike shows unions corrupt teachers, harm students
The Washington Examiner Americans like teachers. We like to think of public school teachers as kindly, idealistic men and women nurturing rows of attentive,…
Daily Caller
Chicago strike shows unions corrupt teachers, harm students
Americans like teachers. We like to think of public school teachers as kindly, idealistic men and women nurturing rows of attentive, wide-eyed youths with the…
Blog
Teacher Unions Celebrate Another Victory For The “Greater” Good
While teacher unions are succeeding in bankrupting Chicago, the teacher unions of Wisconsin are trying to bankrupt the entire state in the name of getting…
Blog
PATTERSON AND BROWN: Unions stack the deck against job creation
By Matt Patterson and Chrissy Brown, The Washington Times If you build it, jobs will come. That’s what Marylanders are being promised in the…
Daily Caller
Unions stack the deck against job creation
If you build it, jobs will come. That’s what Marylanders are being promised in the push to build a new casino, the state’s sixth, in…
Blog
Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration Undermined Welfare Reform’s Work Requirements
"The Administration has made welfare's work requirements far weaker," explains The Wall Street Journal in a detailed editorial today: an HHS regulatory "information…
Daily Caller
America’s Founders Supported Immigration
As Americans celebrated the 225th anniversary of the Constitution’s signing this Monday, thousands of new citizens at naturalization ceremonies across the country celebrated being Americans…
Blog
Can We Please Have A Grownup Discussion About Distracted Driving?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new study on distracted driving [PDF]. According to the agency, 9 percent of total…
Blog
As Union Popularity Fades, A Fight For Power Threatens Michigan
The major focus on issues involving public sector unions right now is the current teachers’ strike in Chicago. Now that the strike is in…
Blog
Striking: Right Or Privilege?
As the Chicago teachers’ strike is entering its second week, Mayor Emanuel has pledged to seek an injunction with the court to force instructors back…
Blog
The Sad, Early History Of Railroad Regulation: From Subsidies To Nationalization
CEI has long made it its mission to highlight to downsides and dangers of economic regulation. One classic example is the experience with America's railroads…
Blog
Wisconsin Judge to Voters: “Drop Dead”
Openmarket.org Who needs elections when you have judges? In Wisconsin, the voters have decided to reform their state’s collective bargaining laws. They did so…
Blog
Wisconsin Judge To Voters: “Drop Dead”
Who needs elections when you have judges? In Wisconsin, the voters have decided to reform their state's collective bargaining laws. They did so by, 1)…
Blog
The Teachers’ Union Strikes Back
American Thinker A short time ago, in a city not so very far away, an insidious organization hijacked an entire school system, putting the…
Blog
Chicago Teachers Strike: A Lesson Of “Excessive Zeal And No Brains”
On September 10, 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) walked out of the city’s public schools after negotiations fell through with Chicago Mayor Rahm…
Blog
Chicago Teachers Union: Overpaid Babysitters?
Openmarket.org The grand themes of the current Chicago teacher’s strike opera are broadly similar to other union-agitated public work stoppages. The union makes demands (more money, etc.) the city/company balks…
Blog
Farms Need Workers, Not Subsidies
Reports of record farm profits has CNBC’s Senior Online Editor John Carney calling America’s agricultural labor shortage “phony,” and by implication, just an excuse…
Blog
Chicago Teachers Union: Overpaid Babysitters?
The grand themes of the current Chicago teacher's strike opera are broadly similar to other union-agitated public work stoppages. The union makes demands (more money, etc.) the city/company balks ("We can't…
Blog
Unions Seek To Make Michigan A Mediterranean State
On September 5, the Michigan Supreme Court gave a green light to the so-called “Protect our Jobs Amendment” (POJA) for the November 6 ballot. The proposed…
Daily Caller
Low-Skilled Immigrant Workers Are Vital Contributors To The Economy
The Republican National Committee reformed its immigration platform this month to favor a new guest worker program. Unfortunately, the party still seems unwilling to accept…
Daily Caller
TRUST Act Deceit: Federal Government Deceives Sheriffs Into Detaining Immigrants
“It’s pretty simple: federal law pre-empts state law.” That was Steve Whitmore, spokesman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, describing why the county…
Blog
Lawmaker Bullies Employer Because Its Employee Supported Gay Marriage
Maryland State Delegate Emmett Burns (D-Baltimore), who has a long record of hostility to business (a 90 percent bad MBRG rating), gave more evidence of that…
Blog
Federal Government: Fire Good Employees, Hire Bad Ones
The Obama administration is pressuring employers outside the financial sector to hire felons, even as its regulations force employers in the financial sector to fire "thousands…
Blog
Collective Bargaining: Mythical Right Turned Constitutional In Michigan?
Everyone knows that our Founding Fathers’ primary motive during the revolution was to preserve collective bargaining for the carriage industries. That as Washington crossed the…
Blog
Fact Checking Lilly Ledbetter’s False Speech At The Democratic National Convention
Former pay-discrimination plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter, in speaking at the Democratic National Convention on September 4, repeated the false claim that she learned about the…
Blog
CEI Podcast For September 6, 2012: Modernizing Air Traffic Control
America's air traffic control system can be charitably described as an antique. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner describes some of the problems the…
Blog
Modernizing Air Traffic Control In The United States
In The Washington Examiner, a story citing me provides an overview of where the United States is in modernizing its air traffic control system.
Blog
Time for workers to take back Labor Day
Fox News On Monday, September 3, millions of Americans will celebrate Labor Day. For most, it will mean nothing more than the unofficial end…
Daily Caller
Time for workers to take back Labor Day
On Monday, September 3, millions of Americans will celebrate Labor Day. For most, it will mean nothing more than the unofficial end of summer, a…
Op-Eds
Best Practices for Reforming State Employee Pensions
Full Document Available in PDF Summary: Bloated pensions and retirement benefits for unionized government employees threaten the finances of states and localities…
Blog
International Boilermakers: Labor Union Or Business Tycoons?
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers strikes again -- with a slap in the face to its members. The Boilermakers…
Blog
Diverse GOP Voices Emphasize Immigrant Contributions
[caption id="attachment_59817" align="alignleft" width="266"] Former-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice[/caption] Even as the Republican National Committee adopted a platform advocating strict immigration enforcement, several influential party…
Blog
Worker Choice vs Forced Fraternity
Openmarket.org Public support and perception of labor unions is dwindling significantly. Even Hollywood is throwing them under the bus with the new film, Won’t Back…
Blog
Worker Choice Versus Forced Fraternity
Public support and perception of labor unions is dwindling significantly. Even Hollywood is throwing them under the bus with the new film, Won’t Back Down.
Blog
California Pension Reform Plan A Step In The Right Direction But Not Enough
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) yesterday announced a pension reform agreement, which if approved by the legislature, likely will help narrow the Golden State’s…
PJ Media
Higher Education Bubble Spawns Demographic Decline Among Educated Americans
From Instapundit: HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Higher Education Bubble Spawns Demographic Decline Among Educated Americans. As college…
Blog
Higher Education Bubble Spawns Demographic Decline Among Educated Americans
The Washington Times takes note of the burgeoning higher education bubble in a recent editorial: The cost of a college education has…
Blog
The “Gift Clause” Would Force Camden Police Union Bosses To Do Police Work
Openmarket.org While Camden New Jersey is being devastated by budget cuts, homicides are accumulating at record pace and unemployment is skyrocketing. Despite the city’s…
Blog
The “Gift Clause” Would Force Camden Police Union Bosses To Do Police Work
While Camden New Jersey is being devastated by budget cuts, homicides are accumulating at record pace and unemployment is skyrocketing. Despite the city’s plight, the…
Blog
Obama Justice Department Recruits Lawyers With “Severe Intellectual Disabilities,” But Excludes Conservatives
Reality is often stranger than fiction. A former Justice Department lawyer, who publishes at PJ Tatler, has obtained documents from the Justice Department detailing…
Blog
Colorado Voters Ready To Tell State to Follow Constitution
Openmarket.org, NewWallofSeparation.org In Colorado, Douglas County School Board members are questioning the district’s current collective bargaining system due to arcane provisions and a decaying…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 23, 2012: Bailouts as Corruption
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson argues that when government is big and powerful enough to dispense favors like bailouts, special interests will flock to Washington to…
Blog
Colorado Voters Ready To Tell State To Follow Constitution
In Colorado, Douglas County School Board members are questioning the district’s current collective bargaining system due to arcane provisions and a decaying relationship with their…
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