What happens when one of Virginia’s corporate welfare schemes falls apart? The resides of Martinsville and Henry County are about to find out, as StarTek, a “business process outsourcing company” that, to great fanfare, opened a large call center in Collinsville in 2004 is closing-up shop and laying off over 600 employees. It was the largest private employer in the area.

The company cites “a client’s changing business requirements” as the reason for the closure. But as Jason Kenney notes,  StarTek has a history of opening and then closing facilities in Virginia…all the while creating far larger facilities overseas, including opening a 500 person operation last November in Costa Rica and, in 2008, an 1,100 person facility in the Philippines.