Hooray for these workers! People with spines and ethics. REAL Americans!!!

Truly portends the coming Communist workers' paradise.

That's the kind of world that Obama wants to bring to America, where the workers will have the right to refuse to do the tasks assigned to them by those who pay them their hard earned dollars.

Inconceivable. I say Inconceivable.

Indiana is the best argument for all states to ban in-state robocalls and the FCC to take federal action.

I wonder if it would be possible to start some kind of fund to return these people's day of pay to them.

It is also important to keep in mind that jobs like these are easily lost due to the whims of petty tyrants, even in the best of economic times. And these are not the best of economic times, to say the least.

I hope these folks do not have to pay too dearly for their choice. Their jobs already suck enough.

I read this story yesterday and I was struck by the fact that Americall-- which did send them home-- didn't try to exact any further retribution. "If you don't want to read it, that's fine, but that's what we're working on today... see you tomorrow."

These people could have lost their jobs, or been coerced into staying with the threat of a loss of their jobs. Instead, a seemingly understanding employer just said "we can't pay you for time you didn't work, but you'll still have a job with us if you act on your conscience."

Good for the employees, yes; a little kudos goes out to the supervisor on the floor as well.

Man, when even telemarketers think you're a scumbag, you know you did something wrong.

Good for the employees, yes; a little kudos goes out to the supervisor on the floor as well.

I hope you are right that they will not suffer further retribution. That is a good point about the supervisor, and his or her job is probably at risk as well.

If they can verify employment at this firm, the local Obama operation should offer them work at the rate of pay they'd of received slandering him until the election is over.

Taking America Back!

But if the robocalls are illegal in Indiana, then isn't the company at risk if there's any retribution against employers/supervisor?

Wouldn't top management be more worried about how they're going to explain/spin things to state and federal regulators?

Testing...

I say Oprah should invite them all to one of her giveaway shows. And cheers to Indiana for prohibiting robocalls. There's nothing worse than hearing , "This is your final chance," for the millionth time, and knowing the voice on the other end will not hear your response.

Hey, Obama, you want to cinch the election? pay these people for their lost time.

ahh, gregor, that perfect carrier-out of orders, wondering where you've been

WOW! Whatever they did with the server yesterday has restored my ability to post. Thank you!

That said, remember the underpaid call center employees sacrificing a day's pay - or their job, as the guy in Wisconsin did - when you sneer at people in Kansas and elsewhere who keep voting "against their economic interests."

They thought they were doing something more important.

martin, you keep your paws off gregor. i've got a job for him, such a good worker.

nein! I must have gregor on my payroll. Ve need the most obedient workers in in my, um division

Something to keep in mind:

Back in 1992, I was young, stupid, and a Republican. I was in college and a member of the College Republicans (or Young Republicans - I don't remember which one we were now). Anyway, the campus Republicans pushed hard on all of the members to do phone-bank volunteering - everyone was supposed to put in a number of hours per week at the phone bank making these kinds of calls (looking back, that was where my slide away from Republicanism started because while the first few days were fine, it started getting slimy as the campaign progressed and eventually I just dropped out - and I don't think the things we were asked to say were even a tenth as ugly as what's going on now).

Anyway, where are the College Republican volunteers who are supposed to be doing this stuff for the party? This stuff shouldn't be getting farmed out to companies that the campaign has to pay money to, this is stuff that the volunteer gruts should be doing for free. I've been seeing other reports that McCain's campaign is hiring staff for their offices because they can't get enough volunteers - craziness. Even in '92, when there wasn't really that much love for HW Bush among Republicans, there was no problem staffing offices and getting volunteers.

This is nuts. McCain is a candidate without a constituency. He should never have made it out of the primaries. I imagine that one of the things that will happen with the current GOP implosion is that they'll look at how they ended up with McCain at all, and the primary system may be revamped to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

If there were a way to find out who these brave souls were, we ought to take up a collection for them.

Now as for Gregor---Santa just called. You were going to get coal in your stocking for that comment, but he's decided on something more fitting.

They're cleaning out the reindeer stalls as I write this. That's all the hint you're going to get....

From Politico today:
"....the media often presumes bad faith on McCain’s part. The best evidence of this has been the intense focus on the negative nature of his ads, when it is clear Obama has been similarly negative in spots he airs on radio and in swing states."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Really? Have Obama's ads been equivilant to McCain's in terms of negativity, content and veracity? Anyone? I think not. What say you?

Good for them. Its about time people stood up for what is right in this country. It disgusts me to see McCain, a man I once respected, to resort to these dirty and nasty tactics. This is not the same man from 2000 or even 2004, its disturbing what politics can do to certain people.

A correction: these are not robo calls since they are not automated, but live. I wonder if there are recordings of the calls and possible responses. Wouldn't that be a hoot!

What bothers me is that the Rs and the media make it sound like Obama's ads are equally as negative as McCain's. They are not nearly. They are informative and honest, the exact opposite of McCain/Palin's.

I also commend the employees who chose to walk off the job, which probably pays close to the min. wage. These are hardly people who can afford to take a principled stand, so their sacrifice is real. I wonder if Obama could legally pay them? Perhaps he could hire the call center to make some calls for his campaign, and explain on the call that he has hired these workers in recognition of their courage and Americanism. Just a thought!

peace,
st john

i've sent emails and printed letters to a dozen pennsylvania newspapers and the PA GOP, including a hard copy to the chairman of the PA GOP, about the race-baiting, holocaust-fear-inducing email recently sent out by the PA GOP.

i have a call in to the communications director of the PA GOP, a mr. barley, requesting he call me back when the person who authorized this (and according to Bryan Rudnick who pressed the "send" button he got authorization from someone at the PA GOP) has been fired and the three signers -- I. Michael Coslov, Mitchell Morgan and "The Honorable" Sandra Schultz Newman -- have been publicly repudiated and barred from any further participation in the Pennsylvania or national Republican Party activities.

this has me steamed.

Me?

I'd be concerned they would fill teh chairs with worse people than me or peopel too scared to resist.

Maybe other workers can read this.

STAY ON THE JOB.
Take their money. Read it like you would a phone book. Monotone. No enthusiasm. Robotic.

Passive resistance.

If you don't do it, they'll get someone who will.

Just a thought.
Their stand was admirable, and if they can't in good conscience bilk these guys, that also is admirable, though better than they deserve.

The company is based in Naperville, IL.

I suspect the owners and supervisors didn't like the scripts much either. They only reluctantly took the work.

That's why the company was basically OK with the employees not reading the scripts. "If you don't like the script take the day as unpaid time off."

That's my guess.

I want to see an Obama ad up TOMORROW full of interviews with the most telegenic of these call-workers.

"John McCain. He has nothing left but smears."

Anyway, where are the College Republican volunteers who are supposed to be doing this stuff for the party?

Busy carving themselves up like pumpkins?

Busy carving themselves up like pumpkins?

Priceless.

I worked for a call center many years ago and from my experience the folks working there aren't in the position to so easily give up a day's pay, if not more because I can't imagine they were welcomed back. I was in a hard time (and young) and the only job I could find at the time was in a call center and my fellow employees were not by a long shot climbing the ladder to success if you know what I mean. It's great they had the self respect to not follow through on these slimy calls, it's even greater they were willing to give up what might be the only job they could get for a short time in order to stand by their convictions.

I would really like to get ahold of a couple of these workers and reimburse them for their lost wages to let them know that people appreciate the stand they have taken against the incredibly nasty McCain tactics.

Sure Palin deserves some of the blame but the fact of the matter that she wouldn't have been a problem if McCain has not listened to his little head and picked someone more qualified or at least someone who was a better human being.

Truly portends the coming Communist workers' paradise.

Oh, what...you mean like, say....France? Or the Netherlands? England, maybe? Y'know...those silly European countries that have universal healthcare and an economy that's so much stronger than ours that it's cheap for them to fly allllll the way to America for their holiday shopping?

THAT Communist Worker's Paradise?

THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart. I have made over 10000 calls for the campaign. BUT what you have done is to respond, even in a more difficult way, to Barack saying "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours."
We NEED to return to the ethics and values that defined our nation once and WILL do so again if we all make IT happen. As Mother Teresa said "What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God." Thank you for having the courage to act on your beliefs. You all are in my prayers. Rebecca

Compare these folks-- working for peanuts they undoubtedly need-- with the Scott Sanders and Dennis Steele, adulated in a vapid fluff piece on NPR last Thursday. These fellows are the portentous voices you hear on McCain's negative commercials, and apparently they're perfectly comfortable with closing the lid on their moral compasses and hauling down cash when it's offered in exchange for lying to the electorate.

Questions unasked by NPR's giggling, star-struck host:

-- Exactly how destructive are Sanders and Steele willing to be in their quest for dollars?

-- Do they have any problems with friends or relatives who may happen to listen to them lying before an audience of millions?

-- Do they lose *any* sleep over this work, or is the money they get for lying enough to entirely anesthetize their compunctions?

-- Do they find lying about other things easier after mouthing these lies? Is there a spillover effect into their own lives?

-- Where did they grow up, and how were they raised to find lying in public so easy to do?

NPR's missing opportunity to explore sociopathy can be found here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96047026

God Bless These "Real Americans!"

True American Heroes.

Gregor (second from the top)

"Truly portends the coming Communist workers' paradise.

"That's the kind of world that Obama wants to bring to America, where the workers will have the right to refuse to do the tasks assigned to them by those who pay them their hard earned dollars.

"Inconceivable. I say Inconceivable."

What I find inconceivable is that you think we DO NOT or SHOULD NOT have the right to refuse to perform our job duties if we consider them to be unethical or otherwise unacceptable. That said, if it had been a single person, that person probably would have gotten fired -- which is also the right of the employer if I choose to exercise my right to refuse to do the job I am ordered to do. Most likely, the only reason they are not being fired is because of the bad press that could create, and the fact that 30-40 people is a lot -- more than the call center probably wants to replace right now.

"What I find inconceivable is that you think we DO NOT or SHOULD NOT have the right to refuse to perform our job duties if we consider them to be unethical or otherwise unacceptable."

Do you feel the same way about the rights of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for RU486, on the basis of their beliefs that to do so would be "unethical" and "unacceptable"?

What about contraception?

Or does your support depend upon just which beliefs are at stake, and what type of person holds them?

And if you would be consistent in the application of your judgement, what would you say to our friends at pandagon, fdl, etc, about your defense of people at whom they are very, very angry?

Just asking...

I should apologize for the tone here. I basically agree with Andrew. My point is, it's not always quite that simple, and it's a lot harder to defend a stance that you wouldn't be willing to see consistently and universally applied, to friends and adversaries alike. But it can be even harder to defend a truly consistent application of certain principles.