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
When driverless vehicles are attacked, look for the union label
Self-driving cars are coming to major cities, and one group in particular is not happy about this: unions. An effort to bring self-driving vehicles…
Blog
The AI Jobs apocalypse gets postponed, as CEI predicted
The prophesies of doom that artificial intelligence would destroy jobs have been put on hold recently. Businesses, including the ones that use AI technology,…
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…
Search Posts
Blog
Exploiting the Minimum Wage
Young people with little or no work experience may not be able to offer $7.25 per hour worth of productivity; small wonder so many of…
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Destroys Cheap Health-Care Options, Raises Taxes, Breaks Promises
In 2008, Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. But he is now breaking that promise by…
Newsletter
Labor Politics, Government Paternalism and Tobacco Profits
Labor unions push to establish “binding arbitration” in contract negotiations. The nomination of law professor Cass Sunstein to oversee new federal regulations moves forward. Cigarette…
Citation
Employee Free Choice Act Is Coercive Even Without Card Check
Blog
NRO on EFCA’s Binding Arbitration Provision
Today’s National Review Online editorial looks at the so-called Employee Free Choice Act’s arbitration provision, which would subject newly unionized companies to having a…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Sliding Car Doors
A new set of rules for sliding car doors will come into effect on September 1, 2010.
Newsletter
Big Labor in Congress, Private Conservation and White House Science Policy
Potentially dramatic changes in U.S. labor law make their way through the legislative process. Efforts to eliminate E. coli contamination on farms leads to unintended…
Blog
Union Pension Fund Bailout Taking on a New Form
Senate Democrats and organized labor leaders are reportedly near a deal on removing the card-check provision from the s0-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). That…
Blog
George Will on the UPS/Teamsters Campaign against FedEx
Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” describes a world in which the utopian dream of equality has been achieved beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings: “Nobody was…
Blog
Health care taxes — devastating effects for NYC
Lead headline on the Drudge Report today – “Terrifying 57% tax looms for biggest earners in NYC.” It links to a…
Op-Eds
Obama Administration = Waste, Corruption, Corporate Welfare
Rapidly-rising Medicare spending already threatens “to crush the federal budget,” and much Medicare spending is wasteful, yet the Obama Administration claims it can somehow…
Blog
Reason’s Shikha Dalmia on EFCA’s Binding Arbitration Provision
With Al Franken joining the Senate, public attention is again turning to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). In the weekend Wall Street Journal,…
Newsletter
Sotomayor in the Senate, The New GM and State Farm in Florida
Judge Sonia Sotomayor prepares for her confirmation hearings in the Senate. A slimmed-down General Motors emerges from bankruptcy. Florida’s insurance commissioner claims to have “a…
Citation
They’re From the Government, And They’re Here To Help (Set Your Contract Terms)
Citation
Card Check’s Dirty Little Secret
Blog
Reason’s Michael Moynihan on the SEIU Chavistas
At Reason Hit & Run, Michael C. Moynihan looks at the Service Employees Internatinoal Union’s harassing of broadcasters who air ads opposing the so-called…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: The Size of Your Carry-On Bags
The Securing Cabin Baggage Act wouldn't add to security, wouldn't make flying more convenient, and may well be the result of rent-seeking.
Blog
Washington Post Sells White House Access to Lobbyists, and Misreports Obama Health-Care Facts
Until it was publicly-exposed, the Washington Post was selling its access to the White House to lobbyists. As Politico reported, “For…
Op-Eds
Government-Forced Contracts are Card Check’s Real Threat
The Employee Free Choice Act includes a Card Check section to eliminate the secret ballot in union organization elections. The outcry against this antidemocratic process…
Blog
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of White and Hispanic Firefighters in Ricci v. DeStefano
The Court reversed a decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, including Judge Sonia Sotomayor. . . The Supreme Court held that this was…
Newsletter
Waxman-Markey in the Senate, Tobacco Regulation and Big Labor’s Payday
The Waxman-Markey climate bill passes the House of Representatives. President Obama signs a new law expanding federal regulation of tobacco products. The Waxman-Markey climate bill…
Blog
Krugman Undermines Waxman-Markey Job Creation Claims
Today, National Public Radio held a pep rally for the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, with Paul Krugman as head cheerleader. No critic of the bill…
Blog
Green Pork and (Davis) Bacon
The alliance between organized labor and leftist environmentalists remains as strong as ever. As Carter Wood at Shopfloor.org notes, the Waxman-Markey climate change bill…
News Release
Proposed Labor Rules Would Give Government Power to Impose New Union Contracts
Legislation currently before Congress could rewrite the rules for negotiating union contracts, giving the federal government power to unilaterally impose a contract on an employer,…
Blog
Obama’s Job-Killing Stimulus Package Replaced Investments With Welfare, Out of Political Correctness
Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package was purged of most investments in roads and bridges, and filled instead with welfare and social spending,…
Study
A Primer on the Employee Free Choice Act’s Arbitration Provision
EFCA clause allows government power to forcefully impose contracts on parties…
Op-Eds
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Untouched in Financial Overhaul
The mortgage crisis was caused largely by the reckless government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by federal affordable-housing mandates. But Obama’s…
Op-Eds
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Untouched in Financial Overhaul
The mortgage crisis was caused largely by the reckless government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by federal affordable-housing mandates. But Obama’s…
Blog
Obama Administration’s Anti-Travel Policies Hit New Low
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the new passport requirements implemented at the U.S.-Canada border. As I noted at the time, most Americans–including…
Op-Eds
Ecuador’s Counterproductive Fight Against Illegal Immigration
Ecuador’s government has devised a new way to discourage illegal immigrants, mainly from Cuba and China, from entering into fake marriages with natives in…
Op-Eds
Time for a Raise
Are Democrats in Congress really not supporting a Republican bill to allow union workers to earn more money? That was not a misprint: Republicans in…
Blog
Stimulus = Welfare + Quotas + Corruption
Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is now being used to force states to adopt racial quotas in government contracts, even if their state constitution…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Latest Economic Overhaul Calls for More Risky Loans
The President has just announced proposals for a massive overhaul of the financial system. The proposals would force banks to make even MORE risky…
Newsletter
FCC Hearings, Banning Plastic Bags and Union Graft in Detroit
Federal Communications Commission chairman-designate Julius Genachowski faces a confirmation hearing in the Senate. Cities across the country move to ban plastic grocery bags. Trustees of…
Blog
Motoring around the World on Motor City Workers’ Dime
Detroit can astound even the most seasoned political cynic, and now it’s done it again. As the Detroit Free Press reports, the trustees…
Newsletter
GM’s Bankruptcy, Barney Frank on CNBC and Internet Poker Persecution
The bankruptcy of General Motors is expected to proceed quickly in the wake of Chrysler’s reorganization. House Finance Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) storms off…
Op-Eds
Obama Administration = Waste, Corruption, Corporate Welfare
Rapidly-rising Medicare spending already threatens “to crush the federal budget,” and much Medicare spending is wasteful, yet the Obama Administration claims it…
Blog
In Cover-Up, Obama Fires Inspector General to Shield Crony and Waste Taxpayer Money
Obama is firing an inspector general, Gerald Walpin, who uncovered wrongdoing by a prominent Obama supporter and opposed letting him off the hook. Ironically,…
Op-Eds
Suit Over Raunchy Radio Programs To Be Reheard in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
Blog
Eleventh Circuit Grants Rehearing in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Which Gutted Statutory Limits on Sexual Harassment Claims
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
Blog
Public Wants Wasteful Stimulus Package Canceled
By a margin of 45% to 36%, the American people want to cancel the $787 billion stimulus package, reports pollster Rasmussen Reports. Economist…
Newsletter
Broadband Stimulus, Fiat Takes Over Chrysler and the UN’s World Oceans Day
Business and advocacy groups flood the Federal Communications Commission with comments on the agency’s proposed national broadband plan. Italian automaker Fiat…
Blog
Supreme Court Vacates Stay Order in Chrysler Case, Refuses to Rule on Legal Challenges At This Time
The full Supreme Court just vacated the stay that Justice Ginsburg earlier entered that had temporarily blocked the government’s plan for Chrysler. Why it…
Blog
Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Illegal Chrysler Giveaway to UAW
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday granted a stay temporarily blocking the government’s plan for Chrysler, which would give effectively give most of…
Blog
Stimulus Package Kills Jobs, Drives Up Unemployment
Unemployment is now even higher than the Obama Administration said it would be if there were no stimulus package. At least 1.5 million…
Blog
Illegal Takeover of Chrysler: Pension Funds Have Standing in Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler, LLC
Earlier, I wrote about the Indiana pension funds’ challenge to the Obama Administration’s plan to effectively give Chrysler to the UAW Union, while cheating…
Op-Eds
SOS Ballot: An Interview with Ernest Istook
Full document available in PDF Ernest Istook, Chairman of Save Our Secret Ballot (SOS Ballot), was interviewed by former Labor Department official…
Blog
Court Rebuffs Challenge to Illegal Chrysler Bailout and Takeover; Pension Funds Will Appeal to Supreme Court
A federal appeals court has refused to block the Administration’s illegal auto bailout, which rips off taxpayers and pension funds to enrich…
Blog
Illegal, Unfair Auto Bailout That Harms Retirees and Taxpayers Challenged in Chrysler Bankruptcy
The Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund is rightly challenging the diversion of tens of billions of dollars of federal TARP bank bailout money to…
Newsletter
The Costs of Regulation, Chrysler’s Bankruptcy and Teamsters on Strike
A new report from CEI finds that the annual cost of federal regulation is more than $1.1 trillion. A federal judge halts Chrysler’s planned bankruptcy…
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