Making Calls, Not License Plates

[dArKeR]

 Chris Harry is a model employee for the U.S. call center industry. The 25-year-old arrives promptly at his cubicle, speaks courteously on the phone and is never late or absent.

He plans to stick with his job for three years, a boon in an industry plagued by high turnover. And he gladly works for money many Americans would scoff at - $130 or so a month.

After all, he could be back swabbing cell block floors for a third of that.

"I can't complain about fair," said Harry, who was sentenced to 10 years and eight months for robbery. "I did a crime and I'm in prison. At least I'm not wearing a ball and chain."

Prison inmates like Harry are the reason Perry Johnson Inc., a Southfield, Mich.-based consulting company, chose to remain in the U.S. rather than join a host of telemarketing companies moving offshore.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/25/national/main602112.shtml

This is really a good idea! These Americans should be the first to get outsource jobs. I'm not sure if the movie scenes are correct: Prisoner does his time; the State gives the prisoner $50 and opens the gates and he's back in society. Can anyone imagine themselves in this situation. What do you think a person would do?

[denverbill]

1. Actually, I think it's the worst idea I've ever heard about.

Do you really want prison inmates talking to your children? And how is a US company using prison labor any different from a Chinese forced labor camp that makes tshirts?

[dArKeR]

11. This seems a little over reacting because they are still the same people

when they get out of prison and enter the work force. If they have a chance to earn a living maybe they won't rob, kill your children.

[havocmom]

2. Some may have a problem with calling to make a reservation, giving

credit card # to someone in prison of, oh, maybe credit card theft or some other similar crime.

What concerns me more is the idea of private for profit prisons contracting prisoners out to work (for about $130 a month to the laboror then a cut to the prison) for other private for profit companies who just don't want to pay even minimum wage to workers.

[BR_Parkway]

3. While I applaud the move to hold the jobs in the US

I am concerned that the only way to do so is to farm the work out to people being paid "12 cents to $5.69 per day". That is my tax dollars being used to support people who are being paid slave wages so that a private, for profit company won't move overseas? There's something inherently threatening to working people in this scenario.

I DO support that they are training prisoners to reenter society with a better chance of living live without resorting to crime.

[stevedeshazer]

4. As an unemployed call center worker,

I can assure you that I think it is a bad idea from my point of view, as well as a customer's.

[derby378]

5. Valid concerns

Prisoners as call-center employees is not a bad idea in itself, but they should not have access to SSNs, credit card numbers, etc. Some prisoners have already engaged in identity theft by using sensitive numbers they obtained through telemarketing jobs.

Better still to employ Americans who aren't in prison, though. Last I heard, there are plenty of homeless people in America who could get such jobs through community programs designed to help transition them off the streets.

[maddogesq]

8. Bottom line: More sources of cheap labor.

I would bet the people using prosoners in call centers are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Meanwhile, there are thousands of call center workers loosing their unemployment.

No offense to call center workers, but I think prisoners are better utilized helping clean up polluted rivers, etc. etc.

[el_gato]

6. prisons are cheap labor camps for corporate power

that's why we have so many people in prison

[Ysabel]

14. yep...

gee - maybe my son will get one of these assignments - then maybe he'll finally be able to get through to me on the telephone...

edit - syntax...

[teknomanzer]

7. Real bad Idea...

I work in a call center...to think that I could be replaced by some prison thug really makes my day. I also don't think customers would relish the idea of having a convict on the other end of the line. Just another expample of corporation trying to maximize profits... how low can they go.

[Alpharetta]

9. so we can staff up by throwing more drug users in prison?

Maybe after we complete the cultural hygiene to put all the drug users into prison work camps, we can start on other undesirables.

We can imprison anyone in debt.

And how about homosexuals?

And war resisters.

And welfare cases.

And illiterates.

The cure to all our social ills is to build more prisons and make them profitable?

[colonel odis]

10. hampton inn gets housekeeping staff

from correctional facilities. i'm sure they're trustys, but that doesn't mean i want someone who's in for burglary or robbery in my room while i'm gone.

it is, indeed, all about cheap labor. the right doesn't think they should have to pay a fair price for what we give them.

every day, i think it's impossible to get angrier at those assholes. then the next day, i'm proven wrong.

[maxsolomon]

12. the future of america

3 classes:

1. investors
2. cops
3. prisoners

which one will you be, fellow liberals? one guess.

[GregW]

13. I have a license plate for ya!

[Missy Vixen]

15. Do you do business with either Nintendo of America or Microsoft?

>This is really a good idea! These Americans should be the first to get outsource jobs. I'm not sure if the movie scenes are correct: Prisoner does his time; the State gives the prisoner $50 and opens the gates and he's back in society. Can anyone imagine themselves in this situation. What do you think a person would do?<

Both of the above companies utilize prison labor in our area. How do I know? Our neighbor's husband is an executive at Nintendo.

Both Nintendo and Microsoft could afford to pay market rate for those packing and shipping their products. They don't want to. Hence, hire a prisoner at a fraction of what they would pay the traditional employee.

Outsourcing needs to end.

Julie