<
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/#aiming-at-dollars-not-men>
'This is huge: yesterday, the FTC finalized a rule banning noncompete
agreements for every American worker. That means that the person working the
register at a Wendy's can switch to the fry-trap at McD's for an extra
$0.25/hour, without their boss suing them:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes
The median worker laboring under a noncompete is a fast-food worker making
close to minimum wage. You know who doesn't have to worry about noncompetes?
High tech workers in Silicon Valley, because California already banned
noncompetes, as did Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.
The fact that the country's largest economies, encompassing the most
"knowledge-intensive" industries, could operate without shitty bosses being
able to shackle their best workers to their stupid workplaces for years after
those workers told them to shove it shows you what a goddamned
lie
noncompetes are based on. The idea that companies can't raise capital or thrive
if their know-how can walk out the door, secreted away in the skulls of their
ungrateful workers, is bullshit:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal
Remember when OpenAI's board briefly fired founder Sam Altman and Microsoft
offered to hire him and 700 of his techies? If "noncompetes block investments"
was true, you'd think they'd have a hard time raising money, but no, they're
still pulling in billions in investor capital (primarily from Microsoft
itself!). This is likewise true of Anthropic, the company's major rival, which
was founded by (wait for it), two former OpenAI employees.
Indeed, Silicon Valley couldn't have come into existence
without California's
ban on noncompetes – the first silicon company, Shockley Semiconductors, was
founded by a malignant, delusional eugenicist who also couldn't manage a
lemonade stand. His eight most senior employees (the "Traitorous Eight") quit
his shitty company to found Fairchild Semiconductor, a rather successful chip
shop – but not nearly so successful as the company that two of Fairchild's top
employees founded after
they quit: Intel:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/24/the-traitorous-eight-and-the-battle-of-germanium-valley/
Likewise a lie: the tale that noncompetes raise wages. This theory – beloved of
people whose skulls are so filled with Efficient Market Hypothesis Brain-Worms
that they've got worms dangling out of their nostrils and eye-sockets – holds
that the right to sign a noncompete is an asset that workers can trade to their
employers in exchange for better pay. This is absolutely true, provided you
ignore reality.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
