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
The Daily Signal
How Many Biden Appointees ‘Burrowed in’ to the Permanent Bureaucracy?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on political career placements Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, also highlighted the threat of…

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)…
Search Posts
Blog
Lincoln Remains Opposed to EFCA
The possibility of parts of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), specifically EFCA’s binding arbitration provision, coming back into the political arena has focused…
Blog
Deficit Skyrockets to $1.8 Trillion
The White House predicts the budget deficit will top $1.8 trillion, four times 2008’s record. Obama has sought to blame the deficit on Bush.
Blog
Taxing Away American Jobs
Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the foreign operations of U.S. businesses may destroy management and professional jobs in the U.S., will put American business…
Newsletter
Chrysler’s Bankruptcy, Small Businesses Fight Back and New York’s War on Bottled Water
Financial analysts size up what Chrysler’s entrance into Chapter 11 bankruptcy means for customers and employees. Small business owners band together to oppose new union…
Blog
“Gangster government gave Chrysler to the UAW”
So reads the Washington Examiner’s editorial today about how Obama effectively gave ownership of Chrysler to the United Auto Workers Union (which spent…
Blog
George McGovern on Binding Arbitration
With Democrats just shy of the 60 votes they need to end a filibuster, the fate of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act remains in…
Op-Eds
GM Troubles Repeat British Auto Industry Mistakes of the 1970s
General Motors is now co-owned by the American taxpayer and labor unions. As a Briton, I find this development astonishing. It repeats…
Townhall
Green Jobs: All Pain for No Gain
It is said that there is a scientific consensus on global warming. There isn’t, but there is an economic consensus that policies based on…
Blog
Detroit, D.C.
Today’s Wall Street Journal further drives home the difficult position in which the United Auto Workers, Chrysler, and General Motors are likely to find themselves…
Blog
Fed Policies Contradict Each Other
Low-inflation monetary policy and low-unemployment monetary policy contradict each other. The results speak for themselves.
Townhall
Back from the Dead
The Employee Free Choice Act is dead, long live the Employee Free Choice Act. On Tuesday Sen. Arlen Specter D-PA announced he will be switching…
Blog
Specter Switches, Says He’ll Still Oppose Card Check, Then What?
There’s nothing worse for an economy than uncertainty. Today, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has thrown large swathes of America’s struggling economy into a guessing game,…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Chrysler in Bankruptcy and Union Finances
A congressional investigation of security breaches at the Pentagon targets popular file sharing programs like LimeWire. After extensive bailout efforts, Chrysler moves to file for…
Blog
Farewell Union Transparency
Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis repeals vital reporting regulations which allowed union members to know how their hard earned dues money was being spent…
Townhall
Obama Sells Out Union Workers
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised accountability and transparency. Last Tuesday, his administration broke that promise to yet another group. Department of Labor Secretary…
Blog
Obama credit card meeting — should meet with economists instead
Instead of meeting with the executives of credit card issuers and sactimoniously lecturing them about not raising rates, as he is doing…
Newsletter
Healthy Eating, Big Labor Fights Itself and the War on Mining
A new Food and Drug Administration study sparks debate over the health benefits of eating fish. Factions of the labor union known as UNITE-HERE fight…
Blog
Unions Disunited — and Fighting
The civil war between the two factions that until recently made up the union UNITE-HERE heated up further this week. Yesterday, the leadership…
Blog
People Make Earth Day Better
This year, we at the Competitive Enterprise Institute are suggesting that those who will be celebrating Earth Day remember the challenges presented by living in…
Blog
Between the Headlines:”Sustainability” Means Sustainably Poor
“Mars Sets Goal for Sustainable Cocoa Sources” Another Washington Post story suggests that “sustainability” –whatever it may mean — still can…
Newsletter
Bailout Power Grab, Abuse of Power in New York and Rising Sea Level Panic
White House economic advisers plan to convert government holdings in bailed out banks to common stock, increasing direct government control. New York State insurance chief…
Newsletter
Anti-Tax Tea Parties, College Quotas and Job-Killing Regulations
People across the nation rally to oppose high taxes and government spending in the spirit of the original Boston Tea Party. President Obama’s apparent support…
Newsletter
Tax Day Protests, Small Car Safety and Union Organizing
People across the country gather to protest high taxes and excessive government spending. A new crash test study finds that smaller cars are especially vulnerable…
Townhall
1,000,000 Tea Bags Find a Home
After park officials turned away Tea Party protesters' 1 million tea bags, the press conference was moved to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We were happy…
American Spectator
A Good Time to Start Liquidating
The announcements by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and BlancheLincoln (D-Ark.) that they intend to vote against cloture on theso-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has…
Blog
“A good time to start liquidating”
How damaging would the so-called Employee Free Choice Act be to businesses? Enough to force some healthy companies into bankruptcy. Specificaly, EFCA’s binding arbitration provision…
American Spectator
Green Job Self-Destruction
In your article “Hopes for climate treaty set back by G20’s weasel words”, 5 April, you refer to a study by the University…
American Spectator
Lies Upon Ledbetter Lies
Blog
Trojan Horse “Food Safety” Law
A misguided bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, may shut down farmer’s markets and “drive out of business local farmers and artisanal,…
Dallas News
UNITE-HERE’s pressure campaign against a Dallas city project
Newsletter
Modified Mortgages, Unions Losses and Hurricane Insurance
The White House pushes mortgage companies to “modify” more home loans, while the number of defaults continues to rise. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) announces she…
Blog
Lincoln To Vote No on Card Check
Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln announced today that she will oppose the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, also known as teh “card check” bill.
Dallas News
EEOC Willfully Violated Pay Law, Arbitrator Rules
Blog
The EEOC: “The Fox Guarding the Henhouse”
“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, responsible for ensuring that the nation’s workers are treated fairly, has itself willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act…
Dallas News
Americorps Plan Will Waste Money on Ideological Causes
Despite exploding deficits, President Obama and congressional leaders are backing a $5.7 billion “national service” boondoggle. Obama’s proposed budgets, which break…
Blog
With or Without You
The Obama administration's ouster of GM CEO Rick Wagoner won't solve the auto giant's problems. It does, however, show the power that government now wields…
Blog
UNITE-HERE Civil War Sets Up AFL-CIO vs. SEIU Confrontation
Like the Cold War-era Third World civil wars in which the superpowers would fight each other by proxy, the increasingly bitter row within UNITE-HERE…
Washington Examiner
SEIU’s Advocacy for Card Check
Newsletter
Carbon Tariffs, Union Organizing and Geithner’s Toxic Plan
The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on the impact of global warming on international trade. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announces that he…
Blog
Osorio: Specter Says ‘No’ on Card Check
An update from our very own Ivan Osorio: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) is expected to announce this afternoon that he plans to vote against…
Study
Card Check Double Standard
Unions’ Hypocrisy on the Secret Ballot…
News Release
The Two Faces of Big Labor
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Study
The Employee Free Choice Act Is Anything But
A Comparison of Labor Organizing Today vs. under EFCA…
Washington Examiner
Secret Ballots for Me, But Not for Thee
Washington Examiner
Card Check Undermines Free Choice
Blog
A Global Green New Deal – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Showing that he believes Al Gore’s typical misunderstanding that the Chinese word for crisis is made up of the characters for threat and opportunity (…
Blog
AIG Lies; Bonuses for Fannie & Freddie; Fed Explodes Money Supply, Risks Stagflation
It’s not just AIG, being bailed out for $170 billion, that’s using taxpayer money to give fat bonuses to its employees. The same thing is…
Blog
Show Your Work!
Fiona Harvey of the FT is one of the better journalists covering the environmental beat, but I’m afraid that is a bit like saying that…
Newsletter
Mandating Efficiency, Infighting at SEIU and Privacy Mavens Try to Shut Down Google
Congress considers new regulations on energy efficiency for home appliances. One of the nation’s largest unions faces dissention in its ranks. The Electronic Privacy Information…
Blog
Postmodern Union-on-Union Fight
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is being denounced by a group of its own employees for doing, well, nothing wrong or illegal, but something…