Forbes has a follow-up today to the Washington Post’s earlier revelation that the Justice Department is investigating alleged collusion — “gentlemen’s agreements” — between high-tech companies that has been designed to suppress wages by limiting the poaching of top workers.
From the Forbes story: “If you look back at the last 20 years, there is not one of these agreements; there are thousands of these agreements,” says Master Burnett, managing partner at Dr. John Sullivan & Associates, a human resource management advisory service. “Most are aimed at avoiding wage escalation or pissing off a customer.”
The Post story named Google, Yahoo and Apple as among the DoJ targets, but reading wider overage makes clear that such collusion is both widespread and something of an open secret.
Common or not, the practice should infuriate anyone who believes in an honest wage for honest work.
