At least three companies have sued the FTC after it voted to ban noncompete agreements, which prevent employees from working for competitors for a period of time after leaving a job. Their cases are now pending in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas and the issue could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Given the right wing nut nature of the USSC currently, and the anti-regulation bent, I am not terribly hopeful for this. Noncompetes have been shown to be largely unenforceable, but can be used a cudgel for folks who do not have the financial wherewithal to hire a lawyer to defend themselves. Which sucks, and brings up the issue of “you actually only have the rights that you can successfully defend in court.” It should not be like that, damn it.
… “The heat is getting worse, but our bosses don’t seem to care. My mission is to get through each day so I can save enough money to go back home,” said Francisco, who arrived in the US from Guatemala as an undocumented migrant when he was 14, working on a guava farm for the first year.
I’ve never seen a gringo carrying a brick or mixing cement, but we can’t vote so they don’t care
Florida has an estimated 1.8 million outdoor workers, predominantly migrants, who are exposed to increasingly brutal weather conditions in the Republican-controlled state, where business interests dominate policy-making. Federal regulations are vague, pretty weak and undergoing a drawn-out review, so advocates in Florida have long campaigned for stronger state regulations to protect workers from unscrupulous employers and the blazing heat.
Last July, on one of the hottest days ever recorded in Florida, Efrain López García died at work on a fruit farm – days after having urged relatives to take extra care and stay hydrated, his stepmother, Maria, told the Guardian. According to the medical examiner’s report, his death was caused by complications from diabetes and cocaine – which can both exacerbate the impact of heat on the body – but the autopsy found “insufficient evidence to opine that the 29-year-old farmworker died as a primary result of heatstroke”.
… On the final day of Florida’s 2024 legislative session, a lobbyist for the chamber of commerce sent an email blast urging lawmakers to vote for the legislation, promising – or threatening – that the vote would count double in the seasonal legislative report cards, the Orlando Weekly reported. That night, a construction industry lobbyist texted “HEAT cannot die” to the house speaker’s chief of staff, referring to the blocking legislation.
The pressure worked and the bill – which also killed local efforts for a living wage – was quickly signed into law by Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor and failed presidential candidate. The ban came into effect on 1 July as the heat index soared.
“We proposed commonsense measures to protect workers from the worsening heat and industry groups responded with fear tactics … they are opposed to any independent oversight,” said Esteban Wood, policy director at WeCount, a membership-based organisation for immigrant workers in south Florida.
Neither the Florida chamber of commerce nor the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association responded to requests for comment.
Florida lawmakers claimed the ban on local protections would create a patchwork of confusing rules that would hurt employers, and that the current federal health and safety regulations are sufficient.
…
I am done with these assholes. They cannot think of people who are different from them as human. They are absolute fascist pigs. Who think they are the chosen ones. Fuck 'em all…
It’s a trap!
Freedom Foundation is another Koch-connected group.
“Ouch, ouch, ouchouchouch …”
I was returning beverage cans and saw there was a picket line at the grocery store. I refuse to cross a picket line as a worker or customer, so I rerouted with a honk and a thumb’s up out the car window.
I ended up returning at a mom & pop store and bought some stuff. It was less convenient but felt better than the big box grocery.
From 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. that night, nearly 25,000 union members and their families filled the park and celebrated the very first, and almost entirely disastrous, Labor Day.
source for historical images
Seth Green has a lot of explaining to do
