A Texas worker has recently sparked controversy surrounding Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign, claiming that 82 people were not paid for their political canvassing work. These allegations angered some Texas residents, who believed that Abbott’s campaign could be planning to default on workers after the candidate lost to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
A user known as u/worlds_best_funnyguy recently posted on r/Texas and r/TexasPolitics, claiming that they and 81 others were not paid by Governor Abbott’s campaign. According to this person, they all worked as political canvassers, following a script and using a polling app.
The agreement, they alleged, was that they would be paid per survey, with an advance of $40 a day if each person could complete a specific number of surveys daily. The person also claimed that the workers were due to be paid on Friday, but nobody received anything. The payment was later pushed back to Monday, and then again to Thursday.
Seemingly irritated, the person wrote: “How would you react if you have been withheld pay? We are all uniting.” No proof whatsoever of this story was shared by the individual, so all the allegations should be taken with a grain of salt.
Texas Residents Criticize Abbott After Allegations
Users on social media reacted to the allegations in different ways. Some were very angry with the GOP: “These bums can’t even honor their commitments to their own operation, let alone serve the public.”
Others felt sorry for the worker: “I don’t like who you worked for but I do hope you’re able to get to the bottom of this and get paid. As far as I know, everyone of the door-to-door folks on Talarico’s side were volunteers. Makes sense that the Republicans would have to pay people (or lie about paying).” Another Texan wrote: “You got stiffed. That’s the Republican way.”
Multiple users chose to mock the person: “You worked for the party that does nothing but grift people and now you’re upset they grifted you. There’s something to be said here besides you make poor life choices.” Someone else added: “Sounds like you got grifted by the grifters. Haha.”
Someone else gave the person arguably more practical advice: “Report them to the Texas Workforce Commission.” Others agreed, saying that the commission generally does a good job enforcing the law.
While the allegations have not been proven, they have certainly sparked controversy. At the time of this report, the worker had not claimed to have received payment.
