As a research fellow in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, James Sherk researches ways to promote competition and mobility in the workforce rather than erect barriers that prevent workers from getting ahead. Read his research.
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Last week, the government convicted Tyrone Freeman, president of SEIU Local 6434 in Los Angeles, of 14 counts of illegally diverting union dues into his… Read More
Should government agencies use the best information possible? For more than 80 years, the Labor Department has answered that question in the negative. The Davis–Bacon… Read More
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigned on January 22. It would be beneficial if President Obama’s next Labor Secretary would do more to protect workers from… Read More
Conservatives won an enormous victory in Michigan last week. The state just passed a right-to-work law that makes union dues voluntary. Starting next year, union… Read More
The November employment report appeared to be good news. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest level since 2009, and the economy created… Read More
All signs now point toward Michigan becoming America’s 24th right-to-work state by year’s end. This is good news for Michigan’s union members and unemployed. Michigan… Read More
Would spending more money on unemployment benefits create jobs? The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) thinks so. According to a new CBO report, extending the current… Read More
Enjoy Twinkies while you still can. Hostess Brands just went bankrupt. This morning the company announced that it will suspend operations and lay off more… Read More
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has spent more than any other outside group to re-elect President Obama. The union has spent $74 million to… Read More
In January, the Washington Taxicab Commission welcomed Uber, a smartphone-based car service, to the District with a sting operation. The charge: operating without a chauffer’s… Read More
When a questioner at Tuesday’s presidential debate stated that women make only 72 cents for every dollar that men make, both President Obama and Governor… Read More
The news that new Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims dropped sharply to 339,000 last week has raised eyebrows—and aroused suspicion the Department of Labor had massaged… Read More
“Unthinkable and intolerable.” So President Franklin Delano Roosevelt considered strikes by government employees. Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU), has a… Read More
Beaten workers. Blocked deliveries. Late-night vandalism. The news surrounding the Goldtex construction project in Philadelphia reads like a script for The Sopranos. What is going… Read More
Over Thanksgiving weekend of 2006, airport screeners in Toronto began meticulously searching every carry-on bag by hand. The delays caused security lines to pile up…. Read More
Chef Daniel Boulud got one of his first tastes of the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) when they inflated a gigantic cockroach outside of his upscale… Read More
The RAISE Act would rewrite the National Labor Relations Act to make union rates only a minimum wage. If employers wanted to, they could always… Read More
President Obama repeatedly promised not to raise taxes on middle-class families. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that he already has. Chief Justice John Roberts upheld… Read More
Today’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of nonunion workers in Knox v. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) significantly strengthens nonunion members’ First Amendment rights not… Read More
“Collective bargaining rights are under attack—again,” warns the SEIU. The union claims employees face a “federal attack on your rights at work.” How? From a… Read More
Union contracts do not just set the minimum compensation that workers can earn; they also set maximum wages. Employers may not pay employees more than… Read More
Engaged voters and policymakers have a number of things to ponder after the dust settles in Tuesday’s historic Wisconsin election. While Governor Scott Walker (R)… Read More
News
A funny thing happened on the way to the recall. Government unions organized Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) recall in retaliation for limiting their collective… Read More
Is it slavery for union workers to work alongside nonunion workers? The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) filed a lawsuit claiming that Indiana’s right-to-work… Read More
The Brooklyn Hospital Center wanted to reward its best nurses, so it honored high-performing nurses with a breakfast and gave them $100 gift cards. Unfortunately,… Read More
No one likes tax increases, right? Not quite. Government unions do. In California, government unions recently postponed their contract negotiations until after a vote on… Read More
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report yesterday showing that federal employees receive substantially more compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector…. Read More
The NFL Players Association just came out against Indiana’s proposed right-to-work law. This is not too surprising: Even the poorest NFL player makes $390,000 a… Read More
The framers of the Constitution required the President to get the consent of the Senate before appointing senior government officials. They wanted to prevent the… Read More
President Barack Obama wants to extend the temporary payroll tax cut into 2012, and congressional Democrats and Republicans agree. They disagree over how to pay… Read More
