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Monday, July 18, 2011

Karl Dean and Bill Haslam offered IQT government subsidies and 1,000 working class Canadians lost their paychecks

Video footage of today's protests by former IQT workers in Canada:





It has been about a month since co-CEO Alex Mortman stood alongside Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Mayor Karl Dean, Nashville Chamber of Commerce big shots and economic development managers while wooing Nashville in search of "savvy" workers. A month later he has jilted Canadian workers while cheating them on what IQT owes them.

And Haslam and Dean provided Mortman the money to burn his former employees. Here is what Haslam said of IQT in June:

Most of us are unfamiliar with the company’s name, but it’s highly likely many of our sales, service and technical support questions for technology companies have been handled by the people at IQT .... I’m pleased these technically-focused, good paying jobs are being created in Tennessee. IQT is helping us make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs.

That is quite a bit of exaggeration, given that IQT paid its Canadian employees $11 per hour and then took their last paychecks and did not meet severance and vacation obligations. That does not sound like a future win for Tennessee workers, Governor Haslam.

And Mayor Karl Dean was absolutely glowing:

IQT is a vibrant, technology-focused company that has found a perfect home in Nashville, a vibrant, technology-focused community .... I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome 900 new jobs for Nashvillians and another development boost for SoBro, a fast-growing downtown neighborhood.

Apparently, IQT is not as vibrant as Mayor Dean believed them to be. There are reports of bankruptcy proceedings. Did someone in the Mayor's Office fail to properly vet this company or were they aware of the negative impact for Canadian workers all along and did not care until the story spun beyond the usual spin cycle?

1 comment:

  1. Please see my previous comment about Dean's lack of due-diligence.

    (Aren't Vanderbilt Law School graduates supposed to know something about this concept?)

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