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
NLRB seeks to revoke First Amendment for management.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week sent a warning that literally anything management says about a union organizing bid…
Marketplace
Job satisfaction up, but may be near a plateau
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in Marketplace on employment satisfaction: These days, Sean Higgins at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank said people are…
National Review
CA’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Is a Regressive Tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who wanted…
Search Posts
Blog
Are European Roads Safer Than America’s?
Marlo was just on an interview on CNBC where a question was asked about road accident rates. A Greenpeace spokesman said that European roads were…
Op-Eds
Crime’s Up
During the late 1990s, police superintendent Edward F. Davis III presided over epic crime reductions in Lowell, Massachusetts. Under his leadership, the city's crime…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. Environment Rolling Stone magazine switches to “carbon neutral” paper, but still receives attacks from…
Blog
Of Gas Prices and Carbon Taxes
Iain, I found your post on how higher gas prices have reduced travel very interesting. In the short term, what you present is a…
Blog
Mises on Immigration
As long as I’m on the subject of immigration, a complex matter, I always find Ludwig von Mises always quotable, providing clarity in such…
Blog
A Free Market means a Free Labor Market
CEI's mission of "advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government" doesn't come with the caveat of "unless it costs too much under our…
Blog
But Maybe It’s the Best we Can do For Now
Hans, I disagree with some parts of your post on immigration and agree with others. On one hand, I’m in total agreement that we…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL The U.S. Supreme Court rules against the EPA’s decision not to regulate carbon dioxide…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS The House of Representatives approves changes to union organizing rules. CEI Expert Available to…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH The New York Times questions whether it is safe for women to…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY Wisconsin’s governor proposes a special tax on oil companies amounting to over…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS The House Education and Labor Committee holds a hearing on changes…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS Congress considers legislation changing the rules for union organizing. CEI Expert…
News Release
Subverting Democracy with Union Rules
Contact: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Washington, D.C., February 7, 2007—Congress will consider dramatic changes to union organizing rules this week, when…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS “Politicians love the minimum wage. It is a perfect issue on which to demagogue, since…
Op-Eds
Big Labor’s Agenda for the 110th Congress, Part II: Card, Check, Trade Policy, and the NLRB
Last month, Labor Watch looked at the proposal to raise the federal minimum wage—a key item in the Democrats’ agenda for Congress. In this…
Op-Eds
The Immorality of the Minimum Wage
The Democratic juggernaut has slowed. The House has approved a minimum wage increase as part of the “100 hours” agenda. But a filibuster has blocked…
Study
This Liberal Congress Went to Market: a Bipartisan Policy Agenda for the 110th Congress
DO…
Op-Eds
Big Labor’s Agenda for the 110th Congress, Part I: The Minimum Wage
This month the first session of the 110th Congress begins with Democrats in control of both chambers for the first time since 1994. Control…
News Release
Assessing the Agenda for Congress’ First 100 Hours
Contact: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Assessing…
News Release
Who is Ripping Off U.S. Consumers?
Washington, D.C., July 11, 2006— When big business gets its way in Washington, the result is higher taxes, stricter regulation, and bigger government all…
Op-Eds
UNITE-HERE on the Attack: Pioneer of Corporate Campaigns Pushes Harder Than Ever
Full document available in PDF America’s national hotel chains are bracing for union trouble. The UNITE-HERE labor union thinks it has found…
Op-Eds
Ignoring Limits on Harassment Liability
Back in 1999, in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, the Supreme Court laid down a test for when sexual harassment rises to…
Op-Eds
A License To Complain
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that a worker alleging retaliation for complaining about discrimination may sue even if she has not suffered a…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL Homeowners who challenged the authority of the government to seize their property for economic…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. BUSINESS General Motors goes forward with plans to fire salaried workers at 30 U.S. locations, cutting…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. SAFETY Congress considers legislation to standardize food labeling and safety warnings. CEI Expert…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LABOR The New York City Transport Workers Union’s executive board votes to approve a new…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LABOR The New York City Transport Workers Union ends its three day strike. CEI…
Op-Eds
Point, Counterpoint: Wal-Mart on DVD
Documentary film has long been mired in debates about objectivity. Once strived for amongst serious documentarians, the notion of an objective documentary slowly degraded as…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. GLOBAL WARMING Attendees to the U.N. climate conference in Montreal are unlikely to set…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. RETAIL In preparation for day-after-Thanksgiving shopping crowds, Wal-Mart promises to match any competitor’s advertised price on…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Sony is forced to withdraw dozens of CD titles from sale after its copyright…
News Release
Wal-Mart Critics Reading from an Old Script
Contact: Richard Morrison , 202.331.2273 Washington , D.C. , November 18, 2005—The success of retail giant Wal-Mart has generated criticism of its…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SBC and Verizon receive FCC approval for their multi-billion dollar merger. CEI Expert Available to…
Ideas in Action
LordD have MerCIe Vpon Vs
In some places in London, you can find scratched on old walls the imprecation, LorD haVe MerCIe Vpon Vs. The curious arrangement of the capital…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. AUTOMOBILITY Anti-car activists sponsor the 2005 observance of “World Car-Free Day.” CEI Expert…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. AUTOMOBILITY The Wall Street Journal editorializes on why tightening federal fuel economy standards would “trade blood…
News Release
Labor Regulations Suspended to Aid Hurricane Recovery
Washington, D.C., September 12, 2005—Last week President Bush, in order to speed the hurricane recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast, suspended labor regulations…
Op-Eds
The New Face of Organized Labor
Any student of socialism will recognize that organized labor and leftist politics have marched hand in hand since their inception. Early labor union organizers saw their…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY The Bush administration moves to avert gas shortages in the wake of Hurricane…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY A power plant in Alexandria, Virginia, which serves customers in the District of Columbia and Maryland, may…
Op-Eds
Twenty-first Century Unionism?
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />WASHINGTON — The AFL-CIO's loss of two large unions this week hit Democrats and the labor federation…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TRADE Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby makes the case for passage of the Central American Free…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CIVIL LIBERTIES The House and Senate Judiciary Committees debate whether or not to reauthorize…
Op-Eds
SEIU Using Intimidation To Expand Membership Rolls
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Union membership has declined steadily for decades, but don't think…
Op-Eds
Air Sickness: Who’s to Blame? (Part 2)
Full study available in pdf format If management-labor relations at large airlines are preventing fair competition with newer airlines, to what extent…
Op-Eds
Air Sickness: Who’s to Blame? (Part 1)
Full document available in pdf format Business travelers, family visitors, tourists—all are affected by the airline industry’s woes. But who knows what…
Op-Eds
Bureaucrats upending NIH
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) faces a revolt by its employees over new, draconian conflict-of-interest rules. They ban all consulting (paid or unpaid) for…
Op-Eds
New Agenda Fails to Address Problems
George Bernard Shaw once observed that: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the…