[Vision2020] Decency Prevails: Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

[Saundra Lund]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/dozens_of_call_cente
r_workers.php

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read
McCain Script Attacking Obama
By Greg Sargent - October 27, 2008, 5:18PM

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.

"They walked out," Williams says of her daughter and her co-workers, adding
that they weren't fired but willingly sacrificed pay rather than read the
lines. "They were told [by supervisors], `If you all leave, you're not gonna
get paid for the rest of the day."

The daughter, who wanted her name withheld fearing retribution from her
employer, confirmed the story to us. "It was like at least 40 people," the
daughter said. "People thought the script was nasty and they didn't wanna
read it."

A second worker at the call center confirmed the episode, saying that "at
least 30" workers had walked out after refusing to read the script.

"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."

The script coincided with this robo-slime call running in other states, but
because robocalling is illegal in Indiana it was being read by call center
workers.

Representatives at Americall in Indiana, and at the company's corporate
headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, didn't return calls for comment.