FU....IBM !
IBM says it'll reconsider growth in Texas if 'bathroom bill' passes, Austin paper reports
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE 1:34 AM ET 7/19/2017
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July 19--If the Texas Legislature approves a "bathroom bill" during the special session, it may be kissing IBM's(IBM) expansion in Texas goodbye, according to a report by the Austin American-Statesman.
One of IBM's(IBM) executives, Diane Gherson, told the Statesman that the technology company may have to hire elsewhere. Her comments come as lawmakers prepare to vote on a bill that would prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
When asked by a Statesman reporter if IBM(IBM) would "reconsider your commitment and investment in Texas if a bill like this is passed," the executive said yes.
"Obviously it affects our ability to hire, so we'd have to reconsider our hiring as well, and our planned growth," she said.
Gherson, a senior vice president for human resources at IBM(IBM), is one of 20 employees sent to the Capitol to express opposition in person. The company -- one of the largest tech employers in Texas -- also took out full-page advertisements in The Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News and Statesman opposing the legislation that they say discriminates against transgender Texans.
IBM (IBM) has about 10,000 employees in Texas, with most in Austin and Dallas. Austin is IBM's(IBM) second-largest office in the U.S., Gherson said.
Gherson told the Statesman that the bill conflicts with IBM's(IBM) company values. And she said it makes relocating for jobs a tough sell.
"It comes up when we ask people to move," she said. "There's an unwillingness to come here."
IBM (IBM) has been the most vocal company opposing the bill, but this week, CEOs from some of the state's best-known companies joined the chorus. In a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus, 14 CEOs said the bill "would seriously hurt the state's ability to attract new businesses, investment and jobs."
The letter is signed by Randall Stephenson of AT&T(T), Doug Parker of American Airlines(AAL), Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines(LUV), Kim Cocklin of Atmos Energy(ATO), Matthew Rose of BNSF Railway, Mark Rohr of Celanese, Harlan Crow of Crow Holdings, Sean Donohue of DFW International Airport, Emmitt Smith of EJ Smith Enterprises, Fred Perpall of the Beck Group, David Seaton of Fluor, Thomas Falk of Kimberly-Clark(KMB), Trevor Fetter of Tenet Healthcare(THC) and Richard Templeton of Texas Instruments(TXN).
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
Yeats
