News & Commentary January 5, 2023

By Anita Alem

Anita Alem is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s News and Commentary, the FTC aims to bar noncompete clauses, the labor market continues to be strong for workers while employers face hiring difficulties; thousands of nurses in New York City could go on strike as early as Monday; the Southwest pilots union blames former CEO for increasing service meltdowns at the airline; Biden re-attempts EEOC Senate nominations blocked by industry opposition; in the UK, Prime Minister Rushi Sunak seeks to pass anti-strike legislation in the ongoing strike waves and Amazon workers in Central England are set to stage a walkout on January 25.

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a regulation to ban noncompete agreements in employment contracts, which affect from 20 to 45% of private-sector workers in the US and have been documented across various industries. The FTC estimated that wages will increase by $300 billion per year across the nation and previous state-level measures against noncompetes have increased wages by 2 to 4%.

Despite increasing reports of layoffs at tech companies, the Wall Street Journal reports that the labor market continues to be strong as the number of job openings outpaces the number of workers. However, hiring and job openings have decreased since early 2021. Small businesses in particular, with less than 10 employees, have had disproportionately high voluntary quitting rates. More than three million workers have left the job market altogether, including two million who have quit.

The Guardian reports that at least 12,000 nurses in New York City are set to strike if contract negotiations are not successful by Monday, January 9. Nurses have raised concerns regarding staffing shortages, further exacerbated by the pandemic, that have created unmanageable workloads and high patient-to-staff ratios, stressful working conditions, and potentially dangerous conditions for patients. 

FULL story here: https://onlabor.org/january-5-2023/