"a conspiracy against the public"

Via the New York Times, this interesting employment news: 

The recent narrative is that there is a tight labor market that gives workers leverage. But a new report from the Biden administration argues that the deck is still stacked against workers, reducing their ability to move from one employer to another and hurting their pay.

The report, released Monday by the Treasury Department, contends that employers often face little competition for their workers, allowing them to pay substantially less than they would otherwise...

...“Companies are well aware of this,” she said in an interview, so they rally around a simple solution: “If we just stop competing, it will be better for everybody.”

The Treasury report lays out the many ways in which employers do this. There are noncompete agreements that bar workers from moving to a competitor, and nondisclosure agreements that keep them from sharing information about wages and working conditions — critical information for workers to understand their options. Some companies make no-poaching deals.

I am always curious to know if there are "no poaching" deals that happen in pharma and the chemical industries. I'm sure it happens in the ways that these things always do, at the bar at some trade show, with a wink and a nod. Doubt anyone ever brought a court case...