Nessel joins other AGs in pushing feds for fairer labor practices

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined attorneys general from around the country in urging the federal government “to protect workers from harmful anti-competitive labor practices.”

Nessel was a signatory to a letter — along with 17 other attorneys general — that pushes the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to explore a variety of practices that “depress wages and limit job mobility and opportunities for advancement,” according to a statement from Nessel’s office. 

Nessel and the other attorneys general from the District of Columbia, as well as states like California, Minnesota and Hawaii, say the FTC crack down on practices such as non-compete agreements that can limit employees ability to take a new job and exploring how workers are impacted by mergers and acquisitions. 

The signatories to the letter say the FTC has the enforcement authority to greatly limit such agreements. 

“In an era where wages continually decline and workers’ protections, like prevailing wage, are routinely stripped, we must begin reviving antitrust regulation in labor markets,” Nessel said in a statement. “We must do this to protect workers from harmful anticompetitive practices such as targeting low-income workers by forcing them to sign non-compete agreements and ultimately limiting their earning potential.”