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.

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Imagine...call center workers with more integrity than their employer.