The Working Class Party

Trump continues his tour of working class populism by making sure one sandwich shop forces its workers to sign noncompete agreements that will stop them from working at Subway next:

The Federal Trade Commission is moving to vacate its rule banning noncompete agreements, reversing what was seen as a signature accomplishment of the commission under President Biden.

Noncompetes are employment agreements that prevent workers from taking new jobs with a competing business or starting one of their own, usually within a certain geographic area and timeframe after leaving their job.

The ban, championed by former FTC chair Lina Khan, was finalized in 2024 but never took effect. Following a lawsuit brought by the Dallas-based tax services firm Ryan LLC, a federal judge in Texas found that the FTC had likely exceeded its authority in issuing the ban and halted it nationwide.

Last fall, the Biden administration appealed that ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. But in March, the Trump administration asked the court for a 120-day pause on the appeal. The government’s attorneys cited the changeover in administration and comments made by new FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson that the agency should reconsider its defense of the rule.

Then in July, the Trump administration told the court it needed still more time. The court approved another 60-day pause that was to end on September 8.

Late Friday afternoon, just ahead of that deadline, the FTC announced it had voted 3-1 to dismiss the appeal and take steps to vacate the rule.

And here Matt Stoller said that Trump would keep on Lina Khan!