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
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)…
News Release
Escalating trade war with China won’t fix the need for reform: CEI analysis
On Monday, China vowed to retaliate against nations that corporate with President Trump’s tariffs against Beijing, putting potential trade deals between the US and other…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Card check: the key to union control
Organized labor spent heavily to elect a Democratic Congress in 2006. With the presidency at stake, unions are expected to spend up to…
Op-Eds
Union Pension Funds Go Green — But It’s Not the Color of Money
Labor unions are endangering their members' retirement security by using their pension funds for environmental activism.
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue:…
Op-Eds
What Big Labor Wants
In honor of Labor Day…
Newsletter
Offshore Drilling, Union Corruption and Power Politics in Russia
Santa Barbara County, California considers supporting oil drilling off its coastline. Corruption charges against leaders of the Service Employees International Union crop up in yet…
Newsletter
West Nile, Union Corruption and Federal Courts
The West Nile Virus has infected individuals in 28 states so far this year. The Los Angeles Times publishes a 3-part series on corruption allegations…
Citation
The $50 Billion Bipartisan AIDS Boondoggle
Blog
Virginia Legislators Throw Principles Away in Transportation Deal
Virginia’s legislature is trying to raise money for transportation needs. But Virginia legislators of both parties are giving up economically sensible principles they once followed, in the…
Study
The United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Deserves a Vote
Sound trade and foreign policy is being held hostage to politics.
Newsletter
Drilling for Oil, Regulating Wall Street and Speaking Out On Unions
One million Americans sign a petition urging Congress to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the Federal Reserve…
Newsletter
Gas Prices, Cafeteria Politics and Carbon Rationing
Average gas prices rise past $4 a gallon. Senators vote to turn their money-losing dining facilities over to management by…
Citation
Suing Over What Your Co-Workers Listen To
Citation
Too Fat to Fire?
Op-Eds
Cementing Ecuador’s Poverty by Decree
During my pro-mining mission to Ecuador weeks ago, I visited the Tres Chorreras exploration project and witnessed how a single company can…
Blog
Video: Railroaded in Denver
The Independence Institute just sent an email alerting us to a new video they produced on Denver’s local transportation authority and its history of violating…
Blog
Crazy Immigration Rules Revisited
Earlier, I wrote about how immigration authorities were poised to deport Saman Kareem Ahmad because he belonged to a group that rose up against Iraqi dictator Saddam…
Op-Eds
The Television Writers Strike: Was It Worth It?
This winter’s strike by television writers interrupted the TV-watching habits of millions of people worldwide. But why did it happen, and did the…
Op-Eds
Sexual Harassment: A Strange, Vague ‘Tort’
On Wednesday, I discussed how the courts can be downright hostile to employers in sexual harassment cases, playing a game of bait-and-switch regarding whether…
Op-Eds
Sexual Harassment Bait and Switch
In sexual harassment cases, many courts play a game of bait and switch with employers. When they want to hold the employer liable, they…
Op-Eds
Prejudice and Double Standards in Sexual Harassment Cases
Earlier, I discussed how judges in the New York area, such as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, enforce discriminatory double standards in sexual…
Op-Eds
Double Standards at Duke—and in the Courts
Recently, Stuart Taylor wrote about sexual double standards at Duke University. Duke paid $3,500 to finance a performance by strippers and prostitutes…
Op-Eds
What Race to the Bottom?
Free trade creates new opportunities, jobs, and value for consumers. Now will someone please tell Congress? As it begins its new session, Congress’s agenda…
Op-Eds
Unions Grasp for Influence Over Private Equity
Mention the names of certain large corporations, and many people think bad things—from ExxonMobil gouging drivers with high gas prices to Wal-Mart destroying city…
Op-Eds
Unions Grasp for Influence Over Private Equity
Summary: When private equity firms buy up companies they expect to avoid shareholder pressure campaigns—especially those devised by labor unions. Or so they hope.
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. POLITICS The DC Examiner editorializes on the aggressive tactics labor unions are using to recruit public…
Blog
$1 a Year Man
Chrsysler, has hired former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli to run the now-private, once-again-American-owned automaker. Nardelli, of course, did a good job at Home…
Blog
At Last, Competition for Amtrak?
A small upstart company run by a Colorado multi-millionaire, GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, appears to have broken a major barrier and started providing scheduled, competitive…
Blog
They Can Have My Maserati When They Pry My Cold, Dead Hands off the Steering Wheel
Bloomberg’s Doron Levin presents a sad vision of Europe’s future – one in which high-performance sports cars are a thing of the past: If…
Op-Eds
Seeking to Expand Ranks and Increase Salaries, Not Improve Education
With Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, the nation’s teachers unions are certain to make major demands on their Capitol Hill…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. Congress The House of Representatives takes up major energy legislation. CEI…
News Release
Workers Win As Senate Nixes Labor Union ‘Card Check’ Bill
Washington, D.C., June 26, 2007— The Senate today voted against shutting off debate on a key union balloting bill. The bill would have circumvented…
Op-Eds
It’s Miller Time
Union organizers never, ever intimidate workers whom they are trying to recruit. Believe me? Great! I've got a bridge to sell you. Sound…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. Congress The Senate passes an energy bill, including efficiency, alternative fuel and anti-price gouging sections.
Blog
Cell Phones and Driving
Interesting new study from James E. Prieger of Pepperdine University and Bob Hahn at the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, looking at the…
News Release
Supreme Court Victory for Teachers’ First Amendment Rights
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…
