Good news for the lowest paid

A rare flicker of hope has emerged for the lowest-paid of the working class. Seven of the biggest fast-food chains in the country agreed to stop a pernicious practice that essentially keeps their employees from doing what the traditional American narrative says poor people should do: work their way into better jobs and higher pay.

“No-poach” agreements — under which franchisees of a given chain are barred from hiring workers away from another store of the same chain — have been under scrutiny by 11 state attorneys general. The AGs, all Democrats, suggest that the agreements unfairly limit competition for good workers, thus keeping their wages low . ...

Companies have defended no-poach agreements with the argument that they’ve spent time and money training employees and need to protect that investment. But employees who work hard and perform well deserve to see the value of their labor grow, too.

Conspiring to prevent them from advancing within the company is not fair or decent.

It’s also bad for society and the economy overall. A healthy consumer economy depends on everyone being able to participate and having incentive to succeed. It can’t be based on paying workers at the bottom as little as possible and keeping them there permanently.

Read the full editorial from the Columbus Dispatch at bit. ly/2zF6uQ8