Trickery is negotiation by other means. These would not be an issue in the first place if we had a union, or a state legislature that cared about workers, or b

Trickery is negotiation by other means. These would not be an issue in the first place if we had a union, or a state legislature that cared about workers, or business managers with strong ethics. So many things already have to be going wrong for uncompensated non-competes to be common, that it hardly even matters what you do with them. If you really want/need the job, you just sign what they put in front of you, and then hope they don't find out when you inevitably reneg.