Tough economic times are forcing symphony orchestras across the country to cut budgets and lay off staff, and in some cases shut down entirely. Labor Policy Counsel Vinnie Vernuccio, who coauthored a recent op-ed in the New York Daily News, finds that labor unions, by resisting necessary changes and limiting organizations’ ability to adapt to hard times, are doing more harm than good for the arts.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for July 21, 2011: Stopping the Music
Posted in CEI Podcast, Music, The Arts
Tagged arts, classical music, labor, labor policy, new york, new york daily news, orchestra of st. luke's, the arts, vinnie vernuccio
Russ Brown, a vice president at the Labor Relations Institute and a CEI Adjunct Analyst, talks about recent changes made to the Railway Labor Act that make it easier for airline workers to unionize. Brown recently co-authored a CEI OnPoint paper on the reforms. Congress voted against the changes in legislation, so they were passed via regulation instead. This is another example of regulation without representation.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for April 5, 2011: Reforming the Railway Labor Act
Posted in CEI Podcast, regulation
Tagged labor, labor relations institute, labor unions, lri, railway labor act, rla, russ brown, unions
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray discusses the labor reforms that have led to a thousands-strong sustained protest in Madison, Wisconsin. While the reforms themselves are relatively minor, both sides know that the stakes are high. This may prove to be at a watershed moment in the relationship between public sector unions and taxpayers.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for February 24, 2011: On, Wisconsin
Posted in CEI Podcast, Public Choice, Spending
Tagged iain murray, labor, labor unions, madison protests, organized labor, Protests, public sector unions, unions, wisconsin
Steven Landsburg uncovers a whopper. Take a look at this graph for a second. Pay special attention to the right-hand y-axis. Then click on over to Landsburg’s blog post to find out what’s wrong with it.
Comments Off on How to Lie with Statistics
Posted in Economics, Fun with Statistics, Price and Wage Controls
Tagged afl-cio, earnings gap, labor, organized labor, pay gap, statistical dishonesty, statistics, unions, wage gap
March 31 was Cesar Chavez Day. It has been celebrated in California for some time. A few other states also recognize the holiday. But this year, for the first time, it was a national holiday.
The trouble is that nobody knew it at the time.
On April 2, the White House filed a Presidential Document declaring the holiday. It ran in the April 5 Federal Register, five days after the fact.
You’d think this would have been announced in advance. But Chavez remains a controversial figure. And the gesture will be seen by President Obama’s adversaries as yet more evidence of his capture by labor interests.
The president could rebut those charges directly. Instead he actively avoided confrontation, which is one way of admitting guilt.
Comments Off on Cesar Chavez Day – Interesting Timing
Posted in Political Animals
Tagged cesar chavez, cesar chavez day, labor, obama, president obama, unions
Inertia Wins! 