Maytag Puts the Screws to Its Communities

Everybody loves the Maytag repairman commercial. Nobody likes the way Maytag is playing Iowa and Illinois communities in an economic development bidding war. As the company shutters its U.S. plants, it readies to open new facilities in Mexico, where $2.00 per hour wages await the company.

One of the issues at stake in this situation is the fact that Maytag has been benefiting from lucrative ED incentives from Iowa and Illinois communities, and now the company plans to skip town and leave the communities holding the bag.

No one questions that businesses must do what is in their best interests. At the same time, communities must do the same, and hopefully in this case they will succeed in getting what they are owed by Maytag. This situation, like many others nationwide, speaks to the need for performance-based incentives that ensure that communities and states are not left with the bill when the company decides it wants out of the deal.

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