With the current administration and Congress, we have a major opportunity to build power for working people and advance economic and racial justice—but only if we get the policy right. Now is the time for Congress to pass the PRO Act, a $15 minimum wage, and the Build Back Better agenda, which makes vital investments in child care, home health care, climate, and more.”
Biography
Celine McNicholas is the director of policy and government affairs/general counsel at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that uses the power of its research on economic trends and the impact of economic policies to advance reforms that serve working people, deliver racial justice, and guarantee gender equity. McNicholas assumed the policy director position in October 2021. She has served as EPI’s director of government affairs and labor counsel since 2017.
An attorney, McNicholas leads EPI’s legislative efforts on a wide range of workers’ rights issues, including labor law reform, collective bargaining, and union organizing. Her research has informed policymakers, advocates, and journalists on why unions are good for workers, how current labor law fails to protect the right to unionize, and why workers need legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to restore the right to unionize.
Before joining EPI, McNicholas served as director of congressional and public affairs and as special counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). At the NLRB, she counseled presidential nominees to the board and the general counsel throughout the Senate confirmation process. In addition, McNicholas was responsible for the agency’s congressional affairs work including all agency oversight matters.
From 2009 to 2013, she served as senior labor counsel to Ranking Member George Miller (D-Calif.) for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. In that role, she advised Rep. Miller on legal issues surrounding the Fair Labor Standards Act, National Labor Relations Act, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Davis– Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, and project labor agreements. Before working for the committee, McNicholas was a legislative staffer for both U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak from Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas from Massachusetts.
Education
J.D., Villanova University School of Law
B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Areas of expertise
Labor and employment law • Collective bargaining • Union organizing • Regulatory policy
By Content:
By Area of Research:
By Type:
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Latest data release on unionization is a wake-up call to lawmakers: We must fix our broken system of labor law
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More than $3 billion in stolen wages recovered for workers between 2017 and 2020
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Unions are not only good for workers, they’re good for communities and for democracy: High unionization levels are associated with positive outcomes across multiple indicators of economic, personal, and democratic well-being
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Worker protection agencies need more funding to enforce labor laws and protect workers
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Civil monetary penalties for labor violations are woefully insufficient to protect workers
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Misclassification, the ABC test, and employee status: The California experience and its relevance to current policy debates
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Shortchanged—weak anti-retaliation provisions in the National Labor Relations Act cost workers billions
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News from EPI › The Amazon election in Bessemer showcased our broken union election system and why we must pass the PRO Act
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Amazon’s anti-union campaign is part of a long history of employer opposition to organizing: Passing the PRO Act would be a critical first step
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News from EPI › EPI applauds House passage of the PRO Act
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What we learned from the UK case rendering Uber drivers employees
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Downturn in strike activity reflects COVID-19 recession but fails to capture many walkouts for worker safety
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Why workers need the Protecting the Right to Organize Act: How the PRO Act solves the problems in current law that thwart workers seeking union representation
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The PRO Act is pro-worker: How the act would restore workers’ freedom to form a union
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How the PRO Act restores workers’ right to unionize: A chart of the ways the PRO Act fixes major problems in current labor law
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Union workers had more job security during the pandemic, but unionization remains historically low: Data on union representation in 2020 reinforce the need for dismantling barriers to union organizing
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The Trump administration finalizes rule attacking federal workers’ right to union representation in workplace discrimination cases
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Rebuilding Collective Bargaining Back Better
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The Biden administration can reverse much of Trump’s bad labor policy without Congress
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The Trump administration’s attacks on workplace union voting rights forewarned of the broader threats to voting rights in the upcoming election
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EPI comments on NLRB’s proposed revisions to voter list contact information
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50 reasons the Trump administration is bad for workers: President Trump has said he would ‘protect’ and ‘fight for’ workers. Instead, his administration has systematically done the opposite.
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Why unions are good for workers—especially in a crisis like COVID-19: 12 policies that would boost worker rights, safety, and wages
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Workers are striking during the coronavirus: Labor law must be reformed to strengthen this fundamental right
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Republicans and corporate interests exploit coronavirus crisis to erase companies’ liability
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Who are essential workers?: A comprehensive look at their wages, demographics, and unionization rates
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Congress must include worker protections in the next coronavirus relief bill: We need an Essential Workers Bill of Rights
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Collective bargaining beyond the worksite: How workers and their unions build power and set standards for their industries
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The next coronavirus relief package should provide aid to state and local governments, protect employed and unemployed workers, and invest in our democracy
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Trump’s corporate-first agenda has weakened worker protections needed to combat the coronavirus