Workers Say They Were Tricked and Threatened as Part of Elon Musk's Get-Out-the-Vote Effort
Source: Wired
“I was in shock and disbelief,” says a paid door knocker flown to Michigan to help turn out the vote for former president Donald Trump on behalf of Elon Musk’s America PAC.
In Michigan, canvassers and paid door knockers for the former president, contracted by a firm associated with America PAC, have been subjected to poor working conditions: A number of them have been driven around in the back of a seatless U-Haul van, according to video obtained by WIRED, and threatened that their lodging at a local motel wouldn’t be paid for if they didn’t meet canvassing quotas. One door knocker alleges that they didn’t even know they were signing up for anything having to do with Musk or Trump.
A representative for Musk and America PAC did not return a request for comment.
The contract these door knockers signed with Blitz Canvassing, which is a subcontractor of Musk’s America PAC, says they are “expected to maintain a 17-22% engagement rate during the campaign,” which is a high target relative to the number of people who typically open their door for a stranger. A group of out-of-state America PAC canvassers were told during a recent team meeting that if they didn’t hit their targets, which the door knocker says were more than 1,000 a week on total doors knocked, the organization would stop paying for their motel rooms.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-america-pac-blitz-canvassing-michigan-uhaul/
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Normally, I would agree with you, but after almost a century of this crap with little effort to really put a stop to it, I have to stay with what I said. You speak of a lack of leadership or direction as a cause. That is a solid theory, but again, why let it go on so long? Metaphorically, when a person walks up and slaps you, you may decide to ignore it, or downplay it, or address it with the intent of letting the other party know you do not appreciate the move. When they do this every day for decades... are you really going to ignore it then? Are you going to stand there and take it for decades with no attempt to stop it? I sincerely hope you would not feel that you have to take such punishment for that long, especially when it comes from little more than whim on their part.
You speak of demoralization. I find this constant practice to be more than demoralizing. I find the fact that these leeches would not get away with a lot of this if we would implement very stringent regulations on finance, not to mention a general down-playing of the supposed 'power' they have simply because they have a bunch of pieces of paper. Yet, we kowtow.
We can individually fight this bias by stopping the flow of income to these vulture, i.e.: stop buying their products and services, regardless of how inconvenient it may be to do so. (This is one of the biggest reasons they keep on being able to behave as they do. We keep funding them because too many don't want to be inconvenienced by having to change a morning pattern, or having to go with a certain foodstuff as opposed to another one.) Are you really saying that a single person can hold such power as to require an army just to get them to stop being 'bratty'? I find that thought appalling. I hope you do as well. And regardless of whether or not I am 'demoralized', it exists and needs to be addressed. What is demoralizing is what they get away with, not that some of us point it out and bemoan that they keep doing it.
P.S.: Our leaders come from us. Therefore, that 'lack of leadership' is also on us. There is no dimensional portal that spits out a ruling class every four years. Sometimes I feel like we don't want that kind of leadership, to be honest. Which is also pretty frightening.
Our future President is starting to chip away on this very topic. Let's see what transpires as she attempts to reign in these drunken frat brothers who think they are above us all.
