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Labor Policy Studies

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• Pensions at Risk

  By Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute
  
  Hudson Institute Economic Report, 09/08/2010
  

  With only 12 percent of the workforce belonging to unions, and not all the multi employer funds in financial difficulty, some might say that most Americans do not have to be concerned with the financial state of union pension plans. But the proposed union pension bailout bills make this a national problem. Legislation is being considered in Congress that would bail out these funds at cost of $165 billion.

  
  
  

• The New Face of the Union Movement: Government Employees

  By James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/03/2010
  

  The American union movement has reached a historic milestone—more union members currently work for the government than for private businesses. As a result, the union movement’s priorities have shifted. Because taxes fund government pay and benefits, unions are now pushing for tax increases across the country. The union movement that once campaigned to raise private-sector workers’ wages has transformed into a government union movement that campaigns to raise their taxes.

  
  
  

• The Auto Industry Bailout: How the Shrinking UAW Buys Influence

  By Timothy P. Carney, Capital Research Center
  
  Labor Watch, 07/07/2010
  

  While the United Auto Workers has lost half its members, the union retains its political influence and sits on $1 billion in assets. The union showed its clout last year when the Obama administration bailed-out and reorganized the failed automaker Chrysler. Even while the federal government was forcing Chrysler’s creditors to accept pennies on the dollars owed them it was transferring Chrysler’s ownership to the UAW, protecting the union’s retiree health and pension benefits.

  
  
  

• Unions on the Waterfront: Why is Big Labor Prone to Corruption?

  By Robert VerBruggen, Capital Research Center
  
  Labor Watch, 06/03/2010
  

  Corruption is usually the main topic of news stories about American labor unions. Why? One problem is structural. Labor law gives unions monopoly power. Collective bargaining gives unions a way to tap into employers’ and workers’ pockets. And a compliant U.S. Department of Labor looks the other way. National Review Associate editor Robert VerBruggen looks to labor law in other countries for possible ways to cut down on union corruption in the future.

  
  
  

• The Effect of Labor Market Regulations on Educational Attainment

  By Aparna Mathur, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Paper, 05/26/2010
  

  This paper develops a theoretical and an empirical model to study the effect of higher employment protection on investments in tertiary education. The mechanism driving this link is the effect of employment protection on worker flows. Worker flows (which are synonymous with job flows in my model), are significantly lower with firing taxes, leading to fewer vacancies available per unemployed worker (also referred to as market tightness). This reduces the probability of finding a job and therefore lowers the expected return to education. In equilibrium, with high firing taxes, only the highest ability individuals invest in costly education. I test my model using panel data for more than a 100 countries over the period 1970-2005. Using data from the World Bank as well as from the Barro-Lee dataset on education, I find that, controlling for other factors, more flexible labor markets (or those with lower employment protection) are associated with relatively higher tertiary enrollment and graduation rates than more rigid markets.

  
  
  

• The Impact of the Employee Free Choice Act on the U.S. Economy

  By Lee E. Ohanian, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Studies, 04/28/2010
  

  The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is one of the most significant proposed changes to labor law of the last half century. If passed, EFCA, at least in its current form, will change how a union is recognized and significantly amend bargaining between a union and employer if an initial agreement cannot be reached. This report analyzes the economic implications of EFCA on the U.S. economy. In this increasingly globally competitive economy, increasing wages and expanding the pool of high paying jobs requires increasing worker productivity, not suppressing competition through increased unionization. Alternative policies, including subsidies for education and job training, can promote wage growth for lower-skilled workers more efficiently than unionization.

  
  
  

• Obama Appointees with Strong Union Ties Could Push National Labor Relations Board in Wrong Direction

  By Thomas P. Gies, American Enterprise Institute
  
  On the Issues, 04/20/2010
  

  How might recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affect federal labor law? Controversial appointee Craig Becker is known for advocating policies that fall outside the mainstream view of labor laws. Although the views of one member of the NLRB will not automatically translate into dramatic policy changes, concerns that members of the NLRB may rewrite important principles of federal labor laws through litigation are not unfounded. Whether President Barack Obama’s NLRB would be able to enact key provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act through litigation rather than congressional action remains to be seen.

  
  
  

• When Paternalism Meets Bogus Economics

  By Kristian Niemietz, Institute of Economic Affairs
  
  Paper, 03/10/2010
  

  In the thirtieth IEA Current Controversies Paper, Kristian Niemietz critiques 21 Hours, a report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF). The report proposes a gradual reduction of the standard working week to 21 hours within about a decade, to achieve three goals: make society more equal, happier, and drastically reduce carbon emissions. This paper shows that the NEF proposal would not achieve the first two goals at all, and the third one only at tremendous cost. The trade-off that people make between leisure and consumption is an entirely private matter. There is no economic rationale for third party interference.

  
  
  

• Sweeping The Shop Floor: A New Labor Model for America

  By James Sherk, et al., Evergreen Freedom Foundation
  
  Studies, 02/18/2010
  

  This report proposes a new model for labor relations based on the individual right to freedom of association. The authors review the history and development of the American labor movement, discuss the problems associated with the coercive, collective model, and look to New Zealand as an example of worker-oriented labor reforms. While this new model will face significant political opposition, it holds the promise of greater freedom and prosperity for workers, employers, and consumers alike.

  
  
  

• Davis-Bacon Suspension Would Fund 160,000 New Construction Jobs

  By James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 01/28/2010
  

  President Obama should issue an executive order suspending the Davis-Bacon Act, creating 163,000 jobs with one stroke of the pen.

  
  
  
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