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
Gary Miller
Rep. Gary Miller Recognized by CEI for Supporting Worker Freedom
Steve King
King Honored for 100% Pro-Worker Voting Record
Howard Coble
Coble Receives Perfect Grade on Free Market Issues
Scott Tipton
Congressman Tipton Named Pro-Worker Legislator
Tim Scott
Standing Up for Pro-Worker Policies
CBS
Public Policy Group Honors Coble
News Release
CEI Thanks Pro-Worker Congressmen at Ceremony
Washington, D.C., September 22, 2011—Yesterday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute held an award ceremony for Members of Congress with the highest scores on the…
Blog
Looking at TAA Worker Eligibility Last Year — Some Observations and Questions
Now that reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is all but a done deal -- a quid pro quo from Republican leadership to President…
Michelle Bachman
Bachmann Accepts CEI’s 100% Pro-Worker Honor
Tim Huelskamp
Congressman Huelskamp Earns Pro-Worker Award
News Release
E-Verify Bill Proposes Massive New Regulatory Mandate
Washington, D.C., September 21, 2011 — Today, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) which mandates use of the electronic employment…
Townhall
Michigan on Brink of Massive Education Reform
On Friday September 9, Michigan State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) announced he would introduce legislation giving teachers in his state right to work…
Blog
Sen. McConnell Introduces “Fast Track” Trade Authority; Hits Unions for Obstructing Trade Agreements
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a gutsy statement on the Senate floor today, saying that he was introducing an amendment to give…
Legal News Line
CEI to Recognize Pro-Worker Members of Congress
Legal News Line
E-Verify Has Morphed Into a Monster
Legal News Line
Putting the Jobs Cart Before the Growth Horse
Among the colossal fallacies that keep our economy mired in unemployment, few loom as large as the notion that “creating” jobs leads to growth and…
News Max
Tennessee, Utah Least Favorable to Union Labor
News Max
Anti-Immigration Laws Hurt Economy
Arizona’s immigration laws — Senate Bill 1070 and the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) — were designed to drive undocumented immigrants out of the…
Blog
Congressional Vote to Halt NLRB Job-Killing Regulations
Openmarket.org President Obama and the Senate Democrats’ agenda will be put to the test. GOP senators have called for the vote on the Protecting Jobs…
Blog
Congressional Vote to Halt NLRB Job-Killing Regulations
President Obama and the Senate Democrats' agenda will be put to the test. GOP senators have called for the vote on the Protecting Jobs…
96.5 KPEL
Landry To Receive Honor
House.gov
CEI Awards Congressman Landry as Pro-Worker Legislator
News Release
CEI Awards Pro-Worker Legislators
Washington, D.C., September 15, 2011—The Competitive Enterprise Institute started a Labor Policy Scorecard for the 112th Congress on our labor website, WorkplaceChoice.org,…
House.gov
Congress to NLRB’s Becker: ‘Did You Write the SEIU Intimidation Manual?’
On September 12, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Craig Becker, asking him what role he had in…
Blog
Obama Wants More Spending on Failed Federal “Job Training” Programs that Teach Welfare Recipients and Young People Bad Habits
In The Wall Street Journal, James Bovard, a former CEI Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow, takes aim at some of the billions in waste contained…
House.gov
Hatch to NLRB’s Craig Becker: ‘Did You Write the SEIU ‘Intimidation Manual?’
Blog
NLRB Decisions Diminishing Workers’ Rights
By Trey Kovacs/Openmarket.org Under the What We Do heading on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) website, the board states: “The National Labor Relations Board is an…
Blog
NLRB Decisions Diminishing Workers’ Rights
Under the What We Do heading on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) website, the board states: “The National Labor Relations Board is an independent…
Blog
Obama’s Job Creation Proposal Will Be Ineffective, Experts Say
Despite its massive price tag of $450 billion, President Obama's recently-proposed American Jobs Act seems like a useless dud to experts who've analyzed it, and the…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Mich. GOP Lawmakers More Intimidated by Government Unions?
Errors of Enchantment
Big Labor Index: New Mexico Worst in the West
Citation
VIDEO: Legal Immigrants: Problem or Solution?
Alex Nowrasteh of the Competitive Enterprise Institute discusses immigration and job creation on RT TV’s The Alyona Show.
Knox News
TN Tops in Nation on ‘Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index’
Knox News
Political Notebook: Conservative Group Gives TN High Score for Labor Laws
Blog
AP: Obama’s “Jobs” Plan Will Increase Deficit, Is Not “Paid For”
Associated Press fact checkers took issue with President Obama's claims about his new $450 billion federal "jobs" plan: President Barack Obama’s promise Thursday that everything…
Blog
Davis-Bacon, the Pork of the American Jobs Act Boondoggle
Openmarket.org President Obama made the astute observation in his speech that, “the millions of Americans who are watching at home right now, they don’t care…
Blog
Davis-Bacon, the Pork of the American Jobs Act Boondoggle
President Obama observed in his speech that “the millions of Americans who are watching at home right now, they don’t care about politics.” Obama harkened…
Knox News
Immigration is Not Charity
The biggest misconception about immigration is that it is a zero-sum game–that there is a finite number of jobs which immigrants “take” from the…
Knox News
A Plan Better than Obama’s to Create Jobs
Daily Paul
Competitive Enterprise Institute Web Site Measues Union Power in Each State
The Pelican Post
New Web Site Measures the Power and Influence of “Big Labor” in All 50 States
MNFMI
Minnesota Ranks #4 on List of Most Unionized Public Workforces
Blog
Union vs. Union Fight
A band I was in years ago had a song titled, “Sheet Rockers vs. Aluminum Siders,” about a fight our singer saw at work on…
Blog
Obama’s Costly, Unaffordable, Harmful New Stimulus: The “American Jobs Act”
President Obama wants Congress to pass a $447 billion proposal called the "American Jobs Act," a costly set of recycled stimulus plans that contains no new ideas…
The Tennessean
Competitive Enterprise Institute Gives TN High Score for Weak Unions
The Tennessean
Obama’s Costly, Unaffordable, Harmful New Stimulus: The “American Jobs Act”
National Review
What the President Should Say Tonight
Blog
TSA Agent: Be Quiet About Alleged Sexual Assault, or Pay $500,000
Give some people a badge, and the power goes to their head. A TSA agent has threatened to sue a female traveler who complained…
Blog
Do We Really Need Government-Funded Anti-Piracy Training?
Just introduced by New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R), the Piracy Suppression Act of 2011 aims to improve U.S. policy with respect to ocean pirates…
Blog
Borzi’s Fiduciary Burden on Broker-Dealers
Openmarket.org Who ought to have greater fiduciary duties: a consumer-selected, paid adviser whose advice is optional, or an adviser who you legally must pay and…
Blog
Borzi’s Fiduciary Burden on Broker-Dealers
Who ought to have greater fiduciary duties: a consumer-selected, paid adviser whose advice is optional, or an adviser who you legally must pay and whose…
Blog
Obama Infrastructure Stimulus: Union Payoff Filled with Rail Boondoggles and Pork
Obama's proposed infrastructure stimulus is a payoff to Big Labor, as economist Ronald Utt explains. It "represents tens of billions of dollars in high,…
Weekly Press
Study: PA Favors Unions, Lags in Business Climate
Blog
Dear Labor, Don’t Fear the Robot
In California, a war is quietly being fought: workers versus technology. And the war has materialized in the form of a bill that seeks…
Blog
Obama’s Ironic, Belated, and Unaffordable Infrastructure “Stimulus”
In a Labor Day speech to an AFL-CIO rally in Detroit, President Obama said that "roads and bridges nationwide need rebuilding and more than…
One News Now
Index of States’ Standing On Big Labor
One News Now
Alex Nowrasteh on Alabama’s Immigration Law
CEI Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh discusees the economic harm from tight immigration restrictions such as Alabama House Bill 56.
New York Post
A Bad Year for Big Labor
One News Now
Institute Claims New Labor Board Rule Will Pressure Workers
The Daily Record
New Study Ranks State High in Government Union Clout
Washington Examiner
Maryland Among Nation’s Most Pro-Union States
GOP Alaska
Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
GOP Alaska
Alabama’s Immigration Law Is a Train Wreck
On Monday, Federal District Judge Sharon Blackburn temporarily enjoined Alabama’s controversial immigration law (HB 56) for one month, to have enough time to address the…
Maryland Reporter
Maryland Is One of 10 Most Pro-Government Union States
Maryland Reporter
Is (Big) Labor Day Every Day?
News Release
Zero August Job Growth Reflects Anti-Business, Red Tape Climate in Washington
Washington, D.C., September 2, 2011 — Today’s job numbers from the US Department of Labor are downright dismal: the economy failed to add new…
The Wonk Salon
Big Labor vs. the Taxpayers – a New Index
Politico
Collegio Emails
Illinois Policy
Illinois Ranks Next to Last
Maine Freedom Forum
Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index – Maine Ranks #30
Majority in Mississippi
Few Public Sector Workers Belong To Union
Pennsylvania Chamber
New Study Shows Pa. Favors Big Labor Over Taxpayers
Blog
Regulation of the Day 196: Babysitting
This bill will result in a lot of unhappy nights at home for frustrated parents – and a lot less income for sitters who have…
Blog
NLRB’s Pro-Big Labor Ruling Trifecta is Bad News for the Economy
Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for…
Blog
CEI and Crossroads GPS Announce Launch of Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
With state governments across the country struggling to balance budgets and fund basic services over the demands of big government unions, the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Pennsylvania Chamber
Big Labor vs. Taxpayers
For the first time ever, government union members outnumbered those in the private sector in 2009. Until recently,…
Washington Examiner
How to Track Government Union Power Online
Chicago Now
Illinois Ranks Bottom of States With Worst Government Unions Accountability
Public Sector Inc
Ranking Public Union Clout in the States
Common Wealth Foundation
Big Labor’s Stranglehold in Pennsylvania
New York Torch
Nothing to Be Proud Of
News Release
NLRB Rulings Are Gift to Unions, Blow to Economy
Washington, D.C., August 31, 2011 — Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) handed down three pro-union rulings that will have significant consequences for…
Blog
Welch vs. Lee: What About Freight?
Libertarian urbanist -- call him a "market urbanist" -- Timothy B. Lee recently had an article at Forbes.com in which he criticized Matt Welch…
New York Torch
Wanted: Alcoholic Truck Drivers
New York Torch
Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers
New York Torch
Should We Charge For Immigrant Visas?
New York Torch
EEOC: Drinking History no Reason to Withhold Heavy Trucking Jobs
News Release
CEI and Crossroads GPS Announce Launch of Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
WASHINGTON — With state governments across the country struggling to balance budgets and fund basic services over the demands of big government unions, the…
Blog
More Barriers to Job Creation from Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability Risk
The president is full of hollow rhetoric about creating jobs, even though his stimulus package destroyed jobs in our export sector and…
New York Torch
Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability
New York Torch
Immigration Tariff: Reforming a Broken System
America’s immigration system is broken. Years of overregulation aimed at micromanaging the system has produced nearly 100 different types of visas, each with its…
Blog
NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
New York Torch
Rekindling the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. is now memorialized with an imposing statue on the D.C. National Mall. While the honor is long overdue, his legacy should…
Blog
Time to Stop Increasing Education Spending?
Even The New York Times is now questioning the massive spending increases on education that have occurred over the last generation in a discussion…
Blog
Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
Blog
Deregulate the Practice of Law to Promote Justice and Create Jobs
It's time to deregulate the practice of law, write Clifford Winston and Robert W. Crandall of the Brookings Institution in The Wall Street…
Blog
Today’s Questions for the President
By Peter Kirsanow/National Review Online When you were asked why you didn’t submit your jobs plan before going on vacation, you responded that there was…
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition to Oppose New Air Travel Taxes
Joining Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, and others, the Competitive Enterprise Institute signed a letter [PDF]…
Blog
WEAC Demonstrates that Union Solidarity is a Thing of the Past
Openmarket.org The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin’s paramount teachers union, issued layoff notices to 40 percent of its staff. Union bosses blame Gov. Scott…
Blog
WEAC Demonstrates that Union Solidarity is a Thing of the Past
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin’s paramount teachers union, issued layoff notices to 40 percent of its staff. Union bosses blame Gov. Scott Walkers…