There’s little doubt that IBM got a pretty sweet deal from Louisiana when it announced two years ago that it would build a new technology center in Baton Rouge, says Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
“But there is a price to be paid for doing business in the sticks, and a recent letter from IBM brass to Gov. Bobby Jindal suggests the company might be having second thoughts about setting up shop in such a red state,” Riegel writes.
At issue is House Bill 707 by Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, otherwise known as the “Marriage and Conscience Act.” Similar to controversial bills in other states, the bill would bar the state from revoking the license of or refusing to contract with businesses or people that oppose same-sex marriage.
Riegel notes that in response to the governor’s reported support of the measure, IBM’s senior state executive, James Driesse, fired off a letter to Jindal that made national headlines on CNN, among other news sites. In it, Driesse implores Jindal to oppose the bill, which he argues “will create a hostile environment for our current and prospective employees, and is antithetical to our company’s values.” In response, Jindal held a 30-minute news conference and suggested IBM has misunderstood the proposed legislation and is responding to erroneous news reports based on misconceptions.
“It’s more than a little disingenuous to suggest that a company like IBM—an enormous, multinational corporation with hundreds of divisions and tens of thousands of employees—would issue public statements of any sort based on a knee-jerk reaction to a hot-button issue, especially one as controversial as gay marriage,” Riegel writes. “On the contrary, major international corporations like IBM—especially IBM, in fact—take diversity issues very seriously.”
How seriously?
Riegel notes that it was just last October that IBM earned the distinction from the Amsterdam-based Workplace Pride Foundation of being named the most inclusive employer in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers. Earlier this year, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation gave IBM a perfect score of 100 on its corporate equality index, which rates 781 of the largest American workplaces on LGBT equality.
“Given its corporate culture, it will be interesting to see how IBM plays its cards in Louisiana from here,” Riegel writes. “Should HB 707 make it out of committee, does the company pen more angry missives? Does it threaten to up the ante and do something more drastic? There’s no evidence to suggest it would scale back its presence here—at least not yet.”
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