EXCLUSIVE: Corporate Execs, GOP Firm Launch Stealth Ballot Campaign Against Georgia Workers’ Rights

[Omaha Steve]

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/28/georgia-chamber-attack-amendment/



When Georgia voters go to the polls this November, they will not only be voting for candidates for local, state, and federal office, but they will also be faced with five ballot amendments. The first amendment on the ballot is phrased innocuously enough:

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to make Georgia more economically competitive by authorizing legislation to uphold reasonable competitive agreements?”

Who wouldn’t want to make the state more “economically competitive” by simply upholding “reasonable” competitive agreements? Yet, what voters may not know when they read their ballot is that it was put there by a campaign being backed by some of the state’s biggest corporate entities and strikes at the heart of the ability for workers to freely choose where, when, and how they work.

Currently, the state’s constitution prohibits employers within the state from making contracts that have the effect of “defeating or lessening competition.” This is essentially the purpose that non-compete clauses within employment contracts serve. Employers that utilize these provisions to prevent employees from freely working where, how, and when they choose after they switch employers. For example, a hardware store could use a non-compete agreement to ensure that any employee that leaves does not work for any of its competitors or even within the same industry for a number of years of its choosing. The hardware store would use the threat of lawsuits to enforce the contract.

Because of the wording of Georgia’s constitution, these clauses must be very narrowly written and are otherwise very difficult to enforce. The proposed amendment would strike “defeating or lessening competition” from the text of the constitution, giving judges much greater leeway to rule overbroad non-compete clauses constitutional, making it easier for judges to side with employers during litigation. Judges will also be “authorized to ‘blue pencil’ an unreasonable restrictive covenant to make it ‘reasonable’, making it much more likely” that employers win their lawsuits.

FULL story at link.

[ibegurpard]

1. wow, fucked up

what kind of opposition to this is there in Georgia?

[Omaha Steve]

2. Don't know

I just got home from my local union meeting. This was in my in box. It will be a few days before I get to look into it more.