New York’s governor vetoed a bill days before Christmas that would have banned noncompete agreements, which restrict workers’ ability to leave their job for a role with a rival business.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she tried to work with the Legislature on a “reasonable compromise” this year, called the bill “a one-size-fits-all-approach” for New York companies legitimately trying to retain top talent.

“I continue to recognize the urgent need to restrict non-compete agreements for middle-class and low-wage workers, and am open to future legislation that achieves the right balance,” she wrote in a veto letter released Saturday.

The veto is a blow to labor groups, who have long argued that the agreements hurt workers and stifle economic growth. The Federal Trade Commission had also sent a letter to Hochul in November, urging her to sign the bill and saying that the agreements can harm innovation and prevent new businesses from forming in the state.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Why do these companies never get it? You want to retain talent… you gotta pay to retain that talent.

    More accurately, you want your experienced and proprietary-knowledge-laden people to not take that stuff elsewhere…. Gotta pay them what they’re worth.

    Can’t keep lowballing the pay raises, and expect people to not shop around,

    • PugJesus@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      Sure they can, so long as they can ensure they have a high-placed government stooge or two to ensure they can legally blacklist an employee from the industry if they leave.

      • pingveno@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Bingo. Letting people get strong armed into these sorts of “agreements” is a perversion of free markets.

    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
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      11 months ago

      That’s the thing though. They don’t want to best talent. That is the point. You have to pay for talent. Talent tends to rock the boat and has the power to spark change because the company becomes reliant on them.

      Most companies are completely fine paying much less for mediocre workers who will keep their head down and deliver a mediocre product where the execs get a way better profit margin and can perpetuate toxic systems.

    • derf82@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Why do these companies never get it? You want to retain talent… you gotta pay to retain that talent.

      Oh, no, that fact is exactly what they pull shit like this. They HATE that fact and will pull any underhand tactic to fight back against it. Noncompetes, union busting, collusion, monopoly building, whatever it take to pay their employees the least amount possible.