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
The American Spectator
Beyond Card Check
Blog
“Would ObamaCare Reduce Innovation?”: Health Care Bill Would Cause Preventable Deaths
“Would ObamaCare Kill Medical Innovation?” That’s the question posed by health care expert Michael Cannon. His answer is yes: “President Obama’s…
The Cato Institute
Vallejo Con Dios
Full Study Available In PDF Study Co-Authored by: Don Bellante and David Denholm Rates of unionization in the United States today are…
Blog
How Capitalism and Property Rights Saved the Pilgrims From Starving
Law professor llya Somin notes a “lesson of the original Thanksgiving: that the Pilgrims nearly starved to death because…
The Cato Institute
More Cowbell
How do you turn a company from a small Internet start-up into a billion-dollar-a-year business? We wish we knew, but we can tentatively say…
Blog
Moderates Criticize Health Care Bill As It Advances in Senate; Experts Gave Bill A “Failing Grade”
On Saturday, the Senate voted 60-to-39, along party lines, to press towards passage of a massive health care bill, by blocking a…
Newsletter
Health Care in the Senate, Hacking Climate Research and a Union Power Grab
The Senate advances Democrat-sponsored health care legislation in a party-line vote. Hacked emails from a leading climate change research center reveal questionable practices and methods.
Blog
Healthcare Bill Advances in Senate, Despite Receiving Failing Grade from Health Experts; Democrats Block Filibuster in Party-Line Vote
The healthcare bill is on the verge of passing the Senate, despite the fact that it has received a failing grade from healthcare experts like…
Blog
Legal Challenge to Michigan Union Power Grab
With the Detroit auto industry floundering, the United Auto Workers is turning its attention to…day care provider. And to do so, the UAW partnering with…
Newsletter
FDA’s Tobacco Powers, Credit Card Fees and Cult-like Union Behavior
Anti-tobacco activists observe the “Great American Smokeout.” The Government Accountability Office finds that controlling credit card processing fees could hurt consumers. Union officials are accused…
Blog
“Cultlike” Union Organizing Tactics?
The row between the UNITE-HERE hospitality and textile union and Workers United — which broke away from UNITE-HERE earlier this year and joined the powerful…
The Cato Institute
The UAW’s Shell Game
The United Autoworkers (UAW) and GM are asking the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for a chance to play the old shell game. In back…
Blog
Senate Committee Rubberstamps Left-Wing Ideologue to Head Powerful OSHA Agency Despite His Anti-Gun and Pro-Junk-Science Views
David Michaels, a left-wing ideologue who supports junk science and seeks to restrict gun possession, has been approved by the Senate Health Committee…
Blog
Stimulus Package Creates Imaginary Jobs, Destroys Jobs in the Real World
President Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package creates imaginary jobs, while destroying ones in the real world. Billions from the stimulus…
Blog
Labor’s Day at the Federalist Society
Workers may get violent if their wages are cut. The United Auto Workers union (UAW) has a monopoly and was an anchor on the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 73: Snow Globes as Terrorist Threat
Yes, larger snow globes probably violate the TSA’s three-ounce limit for liquids. But they are not bombs. They are, in fact, snow globes.
Newsletter
Intel Reaches a Deal, Mandatory Purchase Health Care and Union Feuds
Chip makers Intel and AMD reach a deal over antitrust and patent disputes. Democrat-sponsored health care legislation continues to include a “mandatory purchase” requirement for…
Blog
Obama Administration Hits Brakes on Project Labor Agreement
The Obama administration this week called off bidding on what would have been a union-friendly federal construction project bidding process, in response to a contractor complaint over…
Blog
SEIU’s California Scheming V
The bitter ongoing fight between the national leadership of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the former leadership of a SEIU Oakland, California, health…
The Cato Institute
Union Pension Bailout Bill Would Burden Employers and Taxpayers
Blog
The government forgot about hiring the vet
With unemployment up yet again, it must be reassuring to Americans that job-seeking veterans are being helped so much by the government, and by all…
Blog
Get more doctors — get rid of H-1B visa cap
CEI’s champion of letter-writing, Alex Nowrasteh, has a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal today advocating removing the cap on H-1B…
Blog
Unemployment Skyrockets: “U.S. now beating European unemployment rates”
Unemployment is now higher in the U.S. than in Europe, reports the Washington Post. “The official U.S. unemployment rate, reported last Friday, now stands…
Blog
Poor Ford – They Thought They Were Operating in the Market
The Washington Times, “Greedy Autoworkers,” editorializes the overwhelming rejection of the UAW’s proposed labor agreement. Unlike GM and Chrysler, Ford elected to reject the…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Tariffs and Union Elections
The Department of Homeland Security opens a new operations center to battle cyber attacks. The federal government continues to add tariffs to inexpensive consumer goods…
Blog
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Change the Rules.
From attempting to manipulate the definition of “supervisor” to changing the way in which workers are organized, the above seems to be a…
Blog
Recession Over? Don’t Hold Your Breath
There is a clear political incentive for Geithner and others to make efforts to convince us that this economic slump is over. It is unfortunate…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: September – October 2009
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the September-October 2009 issue: …
The Cato Institute
Mr. Franken’s Arbitration Amendment
Kathleen Parker rightly criticized Sen. Al Franken’s amendment banning defense contractors from enforcing arbitration clauses [“The ‘rape supporter’ ploy,” op-ed, Oct. 25]. Although the…
Blog
False Claim About Justice Scalia from Liberal Reporter: No, He Didn’t Say He Would Have Voted to Uphold Segregation
Liberals are busy sending each other twitters falsely claiming that Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the more conservative members of the Supreme Court, said…
Blog
Obama Administration’s Pay Caps Reward Failure and Political Connections
The federal government has no problem paying exorbitant sums of money to people who head failed government agencies like Freddie Mac. Its CEO will receive…
Blog
Obama Accepts “Blasphemy” Exception to Free Speech
In USA Today, liberal law professor Jonathan Turley is criticizing the Obama administration for endorsing a “blasphemy” exception to free speech: “Around the…
Blog
Franken Uses Inflammatory Rape Claim to Destroy Arbitration of Employment Disputes, Including Disputes Totally Unrelated to Rape
Recently, the Senate voted to ban defense contractors — that is, much of American business — from contractually mandating arbitration of employment discrimination disputes. The…
Newsletter
Teacher Unions, Obama’s Climate Czar and Public Choice
Director Bob Bowden exposes corruption and waste in public schools in the new film The Cartel. Critics object to the potentially sweeping powers of President…
Blog
Defending free trade: the pending FTAs
The pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia are languishing in limbo, despite the fact that all three agreements will improve…
Blog
Eliot Spitzer Wants your Pension
Today, Slate features a rant by disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer that includes distortions and falsehoods so blatant that they wouldn’t merit…
Blog
How Much Harm Do Teacher Unions Do?
Plenty, according to the new film, The Cartel. The film purports to show “educational system like we’ve never seen it before. Behind every dropout…
Blog
More on Public Sector Unions
Slate blogger Mickey Kaus explains how public sector unions are driving state and local governments to the brink of bankruptcy (via Nick Gillespie at…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 60: Hybrid Car Noise
One advantage of hybrid cars is that they are quiet. Too quiet, some would say. Blind pedestrians may not hear a hybrid coming around the…
Blog
The Wages of Government Unions
The Economist‘s current Lexington column highlights the growing public resentment at the widening disparity between compensation and job security in the private and public…
The Cato Institute
Our Nobel Prize Winning Immigrants
Americans dominated the 2009 Nobel Prizes for the sciences. Eight of the nine winners were American citizens. What is even more striking is that…
The Cato Institute
Pomeroy’s Lucre for Labor
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota Democrat, is drafting legislation that would amount to a massive, employer-crippling bailout for struggling union pensions. The congressman is trying…
The Cato Institute
ACORN’s Pension Shell Game
Blog
Unemployment Rises to 26-Year High of 9.8%; Obama’s Policies Worsen Unemployment and Credit Crunch
Unemployment has risen to 9.8 percent, a 26-year high. That’s much higher than the Obama administration predicted unemployment would rise, if Congress had refused…
Newsletter
Questionable Stimulus, EPA on CO2 and Underfunded Union Pensions
Experts question the economic wisdom of government stimulus spending. Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions point out the cost…
Blog
Stimulus Packages Don’t Work; Obama’s $800 Billion Stimulus Will Shrink the Economy
“Stimulus” packages that increase government spending don’t work, notes Harvard economist Robert J. Barro in the Wall Street Journal. The administration claimed that Obama’s…
The Cato Institute
High-Stakes Board Games: What Obama’s NLRB Might Do for Big Labor
News Release
Labor Unions Aim to Roll Back Pension Protections, Ramp Up Political Investments
Labor Unions Aim to Roll Back Pension Protections, Ramp Up Political Investments Pensions Should Invest to Profit Workers – Not Promote Union Politics…
Blog
Overpaid Bureaucrats Expand in Number and Pay
Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus package, and other huge government spending increases, the number of federal and state employees is projected to increase massively.
Blog
Big Labor’s Big Prize in Health Care “Reform”
In his Wall Street Journal column today, Holman Jenkins highlights one of the prizes at stake for organized labor in the current health care…
Blog
Rowdy Unionists Shout Down Opponents
Yesterday in Harrisburg, rowdy unionists disrupted a rally held by two Pennsylvania state legislators to promote legislation to end project labor agreements (PLAs), which…
Study
Your Retirement or Our Political Agenda
How Politicized Investment Strategies Threaten Workers’ Pensions…
The Cato Institute
As Deficit Rises, So Too Does Number of Federal Employees
Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus package, and other huge government spending increases, the number of federal and state employees is projected to increase…
Study
The Politicization of the FAA Reauthorization Act
It is hard to imagine Congress looking for ways to saddle a key sector with new taxes and restrictions. But that is exactly what Rep.
Blog
New Study on How Government Employee Unions Squeeze Public Budgets
As in other states, government employee unions oppose cuts that would affect their members. All unions do this, but public sector unions are different.
Newsletter
Opposing Net Neutrality, TSA Unionizing and Banning Soft Toilet Paper
The Washington Post editorializes against the FCC’s proposed “net neutrality” regulations. The American Federation of Government Employees seeks to unionize airport safety screeners and other…
Blog
Union Blocks Action Against Dangerous Bus Drivers at DC Metro; Obama Expands Union Power at Expense of Airline and Rail Security
Thanks to their union, bus drivers for Washington’s Metro system can be dangerously incompetent and still draw a government paycheck, avoiding discipline for repeated…
The Cato Institute
Misunderstanding the Court
The Cato Institute
Biased Reporting of Supreme Court Fuels Leftist Resurgence
American law has moved in a leftward direction over the last 20 years, steadily restricting use of the death penalty and criminal sentencing, and…
Blog
Biased Press Coverage of the Supreme Court Fuels Leftist Resurgence
American law has moved in a leftward direction over the last 20 years, steadily restricting use of the death penalty and criminal sentencing, and expanding…
Blog
Obama Slaps Unconstitutional Gag Order on Critic of His Health Care Plan
While Obama ally ACORN attempts to gag whistleblowers who exposed its role in a recent scandal, the Obama administration is trying to gag…
Blog
DC Councilman Graham’s Chief of Staff Indicted on Bribery Charges Related to Taxi Legislation
Graham's chief of staff, Ted Loza, has been indicted on bribery charges relating to the taxicab legislation.
Blog
Hard-Left Obama Policies Draw Criticism for Undermining Democracy, Security, and the Rule of Law
In his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama talked a lot about “bipartisanship,” but in office, he has governed from the far left, on both domestic and…
Blog
Gypsy Cabs Coming soon to DC?
If you’ve ever been to Brooklyn, you’ve almost certainly seen firsthand the shortage of taxis that has been created by New York City’s licensing restrictions,…
Blog
Big Health and Energy Tax Increases for the Middle Class from Obama and Liberal Congressmen
Even the trimmed-down version of Obama's health-care plan recently announced by a ranking Senator contains lots of tax increases for the middle class.
The Cato Institute
Labor Bosses Still Expecting Bailout
Blog
Solis Tells AFL-CIO: “I am proud and humbled to be your humble servant…”
The AFL-CIO, at its recent convention in Pittsburgh, had much to celebrate, including the fact that a Labor Secretary showed up to pay tribute to…
Blog
Obama scolds Wall Street, but targets Main Street with regs
One year after the Wall Street meltdown, President Obama…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 50: Tires from China
The burden is on tariff supporters to explain why they think people who live in one country are more deserving of economic opportunity than people…
Blog
Obama Administration Undermines Airline Security and Railroad Safety: 9/11 Lessons Ignored
In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress foolishly shifted airline security screening to the inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has failed to detect explosive ingredients…
The Cato Institute
9/11 Ignored-Obama Undermines Airline and Train Security
In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress foolishly shifted airline security screening to the inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has failed to detect explosive…
Blog
To Heckle the President, or Not?
Politicians make themselves look bad far more effectively than any heckler could. They don’t need the help.
Newsletter
Obama’s Health Care Speech, Minority Underemployment and Investing in Global Warming
President Obama’s national health care address receives mixed reviews. DC Progress hosts a panel discussion on the problem of “underemployment” among locals in Washington, D.C.
Blog
Project Labor Agreements’ Dire Effects on Minority Contractors
Today, DC Progress, a public policy organization that focuses on the District of Columbia, hosted a panel on the issue of underemployment. DC Progress…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 48: Barbers in Nevada
Want to be a barber in Nevada? You’ll need to get a license first. One of the requirements is a chest X-ray, of all things.
The Cato Institute
Obama’s Own Economic Advisor Criticizes Budget Plans
Martin Feldstein, an economic advisor to Obama, criticized “ObamaCare’s Crippling Deficits” in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, noting that “the higher taxes, debt payments and…
The Cato Institute
Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes. The Wall…
Blog
Happy Labor Day!
In a new poll, Gallup finds public support for organized labor at its lowest level since it began taking the survey. Gallup finds organized…
Newsletter
Labor Lobbying, India’s Greenhouse Gases and Honduras’ Financial Struggle
Labor unions gear up to lobby for the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” which could impose binding federal arbitration in union disputes. India’s emissions of…
American Spectator
Big Labor’s Benefits
Are unions giving Democrats a free pass on card check? At first look, it appears that way.
Club For Growth
Checked Baggage Regulations
Blog
Ted Kennedy’s Deregulatory Legacy on Airlines and Trucking
Tributes are pouring in for Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, who lost his battle with brain cancer late Tuesday evening at the age of 77.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 40: Flying a Plane
Want to fly a plane? The FAA just published 72 pages worth of changes to its already extensive certification rules. 173 changes in all.
Newsletter
Healthcare Complexity, Union Politics and Insurance Markets
Critics question the unwieldy complexity of current healthcare legislation. A compromise version of the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” gains momentum in Congress. Florida Rep.
Blog
Elaine Chao: Union transparency “more important than Beck;” EFCA “terrible”
Today, at the Heritage Foundation blogger briefing, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao described the union transparency requirements introduced during the Bush administration as “more important…
Club For Growth
Don’t Ban but Expand Them
In proposing his new financial regulations this summer, President Obama pledged to get tough on the big Wall Street banks whose risky practices are…
Blog
Cash for Clunkers Sputters to an End
The Transportation Department announced today that it will wind down the Cash for Clunkers program, which the Obama administration promoted as a way to both…
Blog
Former ACORN Las Vegas Director to Testify against Organization
The former director of the Las Vegas chapter of the far-left advocacy group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has agreed to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 34: Diabetic Truckers
It is a violation of federal regulations to “operate a commercial vehicle in interstate commerce” if you have insulin-treated diabetes.
Blog
OSHA Nominee Is Anti-Gun Ideologue and Junk Science Peddler
Obama has nominated David Michaels, an anti-gun activist, to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a powerful agency that regulates real…
Comment
Letter to Securities and Exchange Commission: Reforming Shareholder Director Nominations
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to submit comments on the proposed rule governing shareholder nominations of corporate directors on behalf of the…
Blog
Don’t Forget Cap and Trade!
Even though 4 Democratic Senators are so nervous about the electricity tax called cap-and-trade they are urging their leadership to drop it from the…
Newsletter
TARP Transparency, Stimulating Recession and Union Arrogance
Congress cites a lack of financial transparency in a report sharply critical of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout. The economies of Germany and…
Club For Growth
Forced Unionization: Card Check, Mandatory Arbitration, & Right to Work Panel
Americans for Prosperity Right Online Conference …
Blog
Democratic Senator Blasts Union Boss
It’s not every day that a Democratic Senator blasts a labor union, which is why the recent mini-controversy surrounding the nomination of United Transportation Union…
Club For Growth
Lesson From France-Recession Ends Without US-Style Stimulus
Club For Growth
Lesson From France-Recession Ends Without US-Style Stimulus
The recession has ended in France, which avoided adopting a massive stimulus package like Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package. France’s conservative President…
Blog
UBS-IRS deal — U.S. Constitutional liberties, privacy rights at risk after Obama bullies the Swiss
Lawyers for the U.S. government and the Swiss bank UBS AG have announced that they have reached a deal…
Blog
Smart Is As Smart Does
This picture accompanying this post is doing the rounds on the internet. The commentary normally reads: Below is a…
Blog
Policy Peril Segment 7: Fuel economy standards
Today’s excerpt from CEI’s film, Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself, is on two global warming policies Congress…
