Are megacorporations and the government colluding to keep the working man (and woman) down? The recent spectacle of a real estate services giant, Cushman and Wakefield, suing a lowly janitor for violating a non compete clause, has prompted a very interesting reflection by Matt O’Brien in the Washington Post.

O’Brien points out the interesting paradox that capitalism works best when there is competition, yet capitalists wish to eliminate competition wherever they can. It boils down to the most powerful wielding ever more control over their workers.

Noncompete agreements have been increasingly foisted upon low level employees:

… noncompetes, which used to be about keeping top executives from taking actual trade secrets to rival firms, have now become much more common among all types of workers. This includes 14% of non college educated employees.

Not surprisingly, companies have been suing more frequently to enforce these noncompete agreements, which have a chilling effect even in jurisdictions where they can’t legally be enforced. Workers don’t generally know when this is the case:

All they know is that they signed something that they couldn’t afford to fight in court.

The entire opinion piece is worth a read.

We have filed this one under “Reflections of the Fall.”