Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama
Posted By JM Bell on October 28, 2008
This is a story full of upstanding, responsible Americanism, with a hero* at the end.
From Greg Sargent at TPM:
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.
Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being “dangerously weak on crime,” “coddling criminals,” and for voting against “protecting children from danger.”
Williams’ daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says. The call center is called Americall, and it’s located in Hobart, IN.
Americall … good lord.
“We were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger,” this worker said. “I wouldn’t do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting.”
This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: “If you don’t wanna phone it you can just go home for the day.”
See? I’ve working in a call center before and they would have canned the lot of these employees the second they stood up without permission. And, from what I understand, I worked in a relatively friendly call center. That supervisor, and, I hope, the call center’s management, did something quite extrodinary for those employees. Good for them.
*Ok, I know “hero” is a little strong, but the Republicans have so utterly removed the meaning from the word that it pops out from time to time. Sorry about that.
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