Imagine you hate your job.

The pay is low. The benefits are crummy. The schedule doesn’t work for you or your family. But your boss made you sign a contract known as a “noncompete agreement,” pledging not to go work for a competitor.

So you’re stuck. You can’t go work for the rival business down the street with better pay, better benefits, and better schedules. You can’t go work at an exciting startup that’s trying to get off the ground in your field. You can’t even start your own company.

Maybe you don’t have to imagine. About 1 in every 5 U.S. workers is restricted by a noncompete clause.

But not for long: The Federal Trade Commission just released a new plan to ban all noncompete agreements across the country. The proposal will free the working people of America to change jobs as they see fit, will lead to higher wages, and will make our economy more competitive, so it doesn’t just work for a few giants at the top.

Giant corporations and their right-wing allies will try to stop this new rule in its tracks — so we’ve got to be ready to fight back, side by side. Let’s show that banning noncompete clauses has widespread support from across the country.

Add your name to say you support the FTC’s new proposed rule banning noncompete agreements and putting more power in the hands of working people.

Here are some of the ways the FTC’s plan will make a real difference:

• Raise workers’ earnings by nearly $300 billion a year
• Increase job opportunities for about 30 million Americans
• Create a more innovative, more dynamic, and more competitive economy by increasing entrepreneurship and leveling the playing field for new companies

And the FTC’s proposal wouldn’t just ban noncompete agreements in the future — it would rescind all the ones currently on the books, and it would make employers inform workers about their new freedom to leave for a better job.

This new rule is part of how we put more power in the hands of working people. How we take on the entrenched power of giant corporations, which have gobbled up a bigger and bigger piece of the pie over the past few decades. And how we create an economy where everyone has a fighting chance.

Now look: It’s no accident that the FTC is taking this bold action right now. President Joe Biden appointed a terrific new chair, Lina Khan. And she’s been part of the administration’s pro-worker, pro-consumer dream team — unafraid to take on tough fights with powerful interests.

But we’ve got to have their back. Let’s make sure this new rule withstands opposition from greedy corporations that want to keep restricting workers’ freedom and want to keep pushing down wages.

If you’re on board with the FTC’s action to raise wages and increase competition by banning noncompete agreements, add your name.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth