This One Thing Would Increase Wages By $300 Billion | Robert Reich 

I desperately wish this man had remained our labor secretary right up to today.

Thank you Robert.... you are a true friend of those who have no power to speak and effect change

Even burger joints have had "non compete" clauses, as if there's some sort of trade secret to flipping a burger and taking orders.

Sadly, non-compete clauses are still regularly included in California, despite the fact that they are not enforceable in California. Thankfully California regularly issues reminders for employees to report contracts with such clauses to the office of the attorney general. This also applies to out of state companies that hire California workers.

This also helps us who are not under those contracts. As higher wages for them means higher wages for me because of competition in the job market.

RIGHT NOW I'm out of work today because of an acute lower back injury. Without the contract of either AFL-CIO (which I have) or some other similar union organization then I'd be in real trouble. So it should be no surprise at all that at one point and time Mr. Reich was US Department of Labor secretary. Listen to what he tries to explain in his video's very carefully ...

Yup, it's ok for corporations to keep you under "their" control but many contracts don't give the worker the same bargaining capacity ☘️

I work at a restaurant currently and we have a non-compete agreement. It states while we are employed for the company we cannot work for a direct competitor. I was shocked, I worked at a lot of low wage bs jobs and this was the first time I encountered this at one.

I agree with you, Robert, and it is time for FTC to stop them at once 👍🏿💙🇺🇸

My take on non-compete agreements: Ban them. Ban them entirely. Ban them NOW.

Unfettered greed: psychopaths, malignant narcissists, narcissists, sociopaths.

The only times these should be legal is if you have trade secrets that could be shared with competitors. Even then its questionable. If a company is worried an employee will leave to work somewhere else, they should simply pay them enough to keep them.

....always enlightening to listen to you. Thank you for all your uploads!

Thank you for what you do! It's always a pleasure to listen to you explain things.....in plain english. Always looking forward to your next post.

I work for a giant corporation doing pest control. We have non compete. If you quit and do business on your own and any of your old customers want to come. They will shut you down fast

You mentioned that banning non-competes will increase competition, help workers and growing companies. This seems like an issue that folks of all political stripes can get behind. Why do so many states allow these agreements?

Back when I worked for Verizon, I had one of these agreements. They called for 6 months time without competing or working for a competitor. And that included after severance.

I can see some reasons for non compete agreements on a very limited basis, but I can't think of any where it would apply for anyone making less than mid 6 figures.

Ive signed 2 non-competes. My lawyer looked them over and said they were unenforceable

I think in a similar vein, banning mandatory arbitration agreements would be huge for consumer advocacy and also just the concept of free and fair legal representation.

Thank you for the update on this issue Robert! I’m in the fitness industry as a group fitness instructor, and my non compete hindered me from even taking on personal training clients in the area without being sued. I hope the FTC can help expand the rights of workers along with members of Congress. I want to work more during the week but now my hours are limited to when I can work at this one company so I have to pick up side jobs in other fields to increase my income

Its very simple. If an empioyer wants to hire you but only if you sign a non-compete agreement, don't take the job. If companies can't get qualified employees to fill a position because of the non-compete agreement, the company would not make them a requirement.

Its about time, and long past, that someone is taking this on. Thank you.

The professor always tells it like it is. The market economy doesn't work well without competition.

I really hope the Federal Trade Commission succeeds in prohibiting non-compete clauses and raise employee wages by 300 billion dollars nationwide! The best part is, the proposal of that new rule came on January 6th, 2023! The two-year anniversary of that failed insurrection.

You're an amazing cartoonist as well as terrific economic/labor analyst.

Thank you robert! You are a blessing to this world

Capitalists: Competition is good. Also Capitalists: Yea... you can't help the competitors, though..

Decades of gratitude to you and like-minded folks! We can stand for truth, rather than just be against things.

Sanders & Reich 24'

it's a horrible corporate "tool." Is there any recourse. What would happen if they just said, "sorry, I can't sign that?" would they be immediately fired?

Cool. So when some mercenary CEO breezes in like the new Sheriff in town, do they also sign non-compete agreements before they push the company to the brink of failure for _just one more_ record breaking stock quarter at the expense of long-term survival & reputation? Consider how many take the helm just long enough to score ridiculous bonuses then bail.

Bob is a pure genius and man of the people! ❤

Robert Reich, you need to be talking to Congress and getting on shows like real time with Bill Maher, MS NBC, and CNN. If people understood the truth, they wouldn’t be saddled by these noncompete contract!

Another spot on video. As always thank you so much Professor Reich.

My wife ran into this as an NP in OK. Former employer who was toxic tried to keep her from opening her own practice, which has now become successful and allowed her to hire 4 employees… fortuneately in Oklahoma the non-compete was unenforceable, so my attorney father sent them a “leave us alone or this will go poorly for you” letter and they backed off. I’m positive these are killing innovation and competition in other sectors.

You should be allowed to work for whoever, whenever, wherever you want. Only fair if companies can layoff whenever they please.

Good Job Bob!. The thing that gets me is this kind of thing always seem to get spotlighted after people have little chance of doing anything about except make noise, draw attention and then replaced by the next "oh shucks I sure wish we addressed this when we had all three branches of government"!

My experience has been that Every job is a trap, where you're forced to wake up to something screaming in your ear everyday, then forced to go away from the people you love to spend 10-12 hours with people you don't, in a place you could be shot at any moment by another disparaged worker that snapped under the pressure, while doing something you would never do otherwise. Sounds like slavery to me and a helluva trap if you get used to heat in the winter and water and food and such

I love watching Robert Reich videos because I always become more informed and smarter after watching and listening to him.

Noncompete agreements are in direct contradiction to "free market capitalism". Anyone that claims they are a Pro-capitalist, should be against noncompete clauses.

It amazes me how the pro-business party has policies that are so bad for business

Yes! Raise awareness, here to like and comment, need the algorithm behind as many of Robert's videos as possible!

I honestly don’t know if I signed a “noncompete” when I was hired at my current job but I do know that I can’t get a second job at some places because my employer considers them “ competition”. I work at a truck stop and I can’t get a job at Starbucks because the company considers them competition because the truck stops sells coffee. I can’t get a job at HTeaO because the truck stop sells tea. Doesn’t matter that the truck stop only has four different kinds of coffee and just sweet and unsweet tea, they are competitors. 🤦‍♀️

I recently read about the noncompetes in the nursing industry. Horrible to tie the hands of these nursing jobs and especially when they are in such short supply! Capitalism isn’t always beneficial to those it should be here.

Greed is a terrible thing. Make all you want, but don't trample people in the process! That's my motto.

I had a non-compete, which expired a couple months ago, two years after I left the job. I will never sign another one…unless I’m paid an outrageous bonus up front, no strings attached. Their purpose is to control employees…or at least intimidate them.

Bravo RR - I finally found something I can agree with you on. The only issue is when an employee leaves and takes proprietary information with them -- and yes, it happens. I'm in IT and have been called in to prove employees leaving copied customer lists, sales handbooks, etc. That issue can be resolved by a direct lawsuit however, so a boilerplate noncompete agreement is not really needed.

Robert please do a video warning potential employees especially recent college grads about signing non compete contracts with TRAP clauses. Training repayment agreements for bogus "training" that saddle the employee with debt if they choose to leave the company before a arbitrary amount of time do to unfavorable working conditions. It's a disgusting practice.

Robert is The Goat on all things economic, labor and politics in this crazy mess.

I've walked away from jobs that tried to require non-compete clauses. I'm not here to play stupid games.

Truck driving as well. My last job had me sign one

It's probably even more because small businesses do this, too. I wonder how legal this is in some states. Michigan?

Non-compete contracts sound an awful lot like feudal contracts.

Right to work, unless it's with my competition

If it weren't for health care tied to employment and non-compete agreements, employees would have much more power to find the highest paying jobs.

My employer has a noncompete. Oregon has a law requiring certain accommodations to employees during the noncompete period. My noncompete would not hold up in court and is non-enforceable. Your map on noncompete should have yellows for legal with restrictions.

This is infringement of some one's write too go were the work and conditions are better. It's a infringement on liberty and a write to life. Totally and utterly morally wrong.

This is such an excellent topic. I find NCA to be a laughable abuse of labor by corporations and a demonstration of just how bad our society has gotten. I remember being forced to sign one of these by a company after I had already put in a couple of years with them. It was most insulting abuse I have ever endured at work and effectively stated that they owned my talents, despite the fact that 99% of all my skills were acquired pre-job. Past the personal risks, I find it interesting that companies want "free market" everything but NCAs take that same right from workers....hmmm.

The only place non-compete agreements should be as they apply to actual intellectual property that can reasonably be expected to be patented -- certainly not something minimum wage employees use to do a minimum wage job.

Preach it, Bob. You are soooo right!

Sir not only are you a brilliant economist who cares about us little guys but your a great artist 😀

The FTC is ANOTHER, gigantic reason why, bigger government, is important.

They have NEVER given me ANY trade secrets!

WHY AREN'T THEY INTERVIEWING U ON THE NEWS???🤔 😠😡 ✊👍🖖🇺🇸

Very informative. thank you.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE EACH DAY....!

Capitalists will say competition is king… unless it works against them

Franchise operators can also have something similar placed on them where they can't work within that same industry or change Franchise.

The federal government needs to ban non competes as well as charging people thousands if dollars for "so called" training when a person wants to leave for a better company and better pay. These companies/corporations try to put a person into debt on purpose to lock an employee into perpetual servitude with low pay and bad working conditions.

Employer-corporations who settle lawsuits (as the defendants) for committing unfair labor practices - wrongful termination for example - also unfairly have the employee-plaintiffs sign these Non-Compete "contracts" AND also Non-Disclosure Agreements, both which should be banned.

I'm always surprised by your sketching skills. Thanks for this one

Great video, Dr. Reich.

Yeah, those Jimmy John's employees might tell Subway to use 3/4 of a scoop of fake tuna salad instead of a whole scoop. 😂 Jimmy John's needs to protect its assets!! 🙄

Thanks Robert

3:11 Ronald Regen and his Pooping-Down-Effect. Like on the picture with the birds 😂

Thanks for the lesson. We'll all need to make sure we contact our representatives to make sure they don't defang the FTC.

Non compete clauses are just one of the many unfair stipulations commonly in today's employment contracts. Unfair because the prospective employee has a very limited ability to negotiate terms in employment contracts. Stipulations may include giving companies broad ownership of IP, control of publication (eg on social media), liberty to change the place of work without changing compensation, liberty to change hours of work without providing extra or overtime pay, liberty to change employment duties without additional compensation, etc. This is on top of other issues such as limitations in pay raises to keep up with cost of living, issues during performance review, promotion, incidents of mistreatment, etc. If non compete clauses were the only issue with employment agreements, we would be so far ahead of where we are now.

Mr. Reich is a National treasure.

You have a problem when non-compete are used for pizza delivery drivers.

Robert Reich, I love your whiteboard illustrations.

Unfettered greed seems like it might not be very good for us as a society.

Obviously our colleges welcome the companies to visit the seniors who Will be desperately needing a job with a non compete clause - any job is better than none.

Very interesting and somethong which should be much mure recognized.

Thanks a million, Robert, for bringing this to the attention of the masses. I really hope a lot of republicans read and get this. Maybe make a little dent in their viewpoints about unregulated capitalism.

Wow. I honestly had no idea.

I worked for a company about 15 years who asked me to sign something like what Robert is describing. Hell no! I declined. Hahaha

Where else would we all get our information and facts about our world without Prof Reich?

Let’s get it done!

Your drawing is good

2 things. 1. Make it illegal to put that In the contract. 2. When you get fired, get laid off, or quit the contract with company becomes null and void.

You want the extra stupid about non-competes? I used to work for a telecom, under a contractor. The contractor lost his contract, so we all got laid off. The company that got the new contract contacted me, but wasn't able to hire me back to the same position.

I like the German way those are done At most they last a year, and the former employer needs to continue paying you half your wage for the entire duration. And they can be voided if there's no pressing reason for them

I love how the Motto of America can be summed up with "The literal source of all our problems is without hyperbole Ronald Raegan" because its true. Raegan fucked everything

The part of Canada I live in (Ontario) already made non-compete agreements illegal here.

It's funny because the U.S. Postal service also makes you sign a non-compete agreement... With far worse penalties than other companies, should you violate it. They actually jail you for doing so because, in their eyes, you aren't just "stealing company secrets", you are "threatening national security". And yes, these are the exact words that the people training me used when I worked for USPS.

Does the federal ban on employee/employer non-compete agreements only apply to new non-compete agreements? (Asking for a friend)

Never heard of this in Australia. Another reason why America is somewhere I never want to go.

It's pretty suspicious that fast food places have these contracts for employees that have neither training nor skills, it's just another tool we gave corporations to hurt the little guy.

Oh so true!