It's no wonder that these workers - and their newly voted-in union, SEIU 32BJ - have a blunter name for these "agreements": they call them "#BondageFees." In an excellent piece for *#TheAmericanProspect* and *#WorkdayMagazine*, #SarahLazare describes how these bondage fees are driving the immiseration of a group of workers who once earned a living wage for work that made life easier for people like my cousin Max:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-04-21-bondage-fees-trap-contracted-workers/

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How Secret ‘Bondage Fees’ Trap Contracted Workers in Low-Wage Jobs

Though the Federal Trade Commission is proposing to ban noncompete agreements, other kinds of restrictive covenants perform a very similar function.

The American Prospect