Iowa Spent $50 Million to Lure IBM. Then the Firings Started
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Five years after bringing high-tech jobs to the Midwestern states of Iowa and Missouri, International Business Machines Corp. has fired half its workers there -- sowing ire and disappointment for locals and officials alike.
In April, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wrote IBM to condemn the firing of about 700 employees in Dubuque, Iowa. The same month, Missouri suspended tax credits after IBM’s headcount in the city of Columbia fell below the required minimum of 500.