Elon Musk and his America PAC have run much of Donald Trump campaign’s ground game in Michigan, running the classic election strategy of door-to-door canvassers seeking votes from that huge market of people who open their homes up to strangers. Despite how rote the playbook is, it seems Musk’s approach to electioneering is the same as his approach to everything else: Abusing workers.
Musk’s America PAC, through a subcontractor called Blitz Canvassing, flew in contractors from outside Michigan to knock doors for the Trump campaign. The canvassers were shuttled around in U-Haul vans without seats, had their lodging threatened if they didn’t meet quotas and have now been completely abandoned in Michigan with no way home. Wired spoke to the canvassers:
[Canvasser Tyra] Muldrow and the rest of her canvassing group of roughly a dozen people had just been fired en masse, after WIRED reported that they had been tricked and threatened as part of Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort. Speaking publicly for the first time about her ordeal, Muldrow says that the canvassers in her group were fired with little explanation beyond a complaint that someone had spoken with the press. Many, including her, were still owed money. Muldrow had to find her own way home; others are still stranded in Michigan.
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The cell was composed entirely of Black people, strangers from out of state who did not know each other but were usually forced to share rooms, according to Muldrow. According to a text message from Jones, Muldrow was promised $1.50 per door, and $2 per door if she knocked 1000 or more doors per week—an all but impossible number. Muldrow further says they were told they would have to pay for their lodging unless they met the unrealistic quotas. The contract the door knockers signed stated they were “expected to maintain a 17-22% engagement rate during the campaign,” a high target relative to the number of people who typically open their door for a stranger. Videos recorded by Muldrow show cramped living quarters and frequent bickering between members of the cell.
Some canvassers were left unpaid after their firing by Blitz, though Muldrow herself was made whole. She received a $2,000 Cash App payment for her work, followed by a text from Blitz telling her to inform Wired she’d been paid. One has to wonder what she’d earn — if anything — had she not spoken to the magazine.
Musk’s companies have a history of worker abuses, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that his PAC operates on the same playbook. At least canvassers can east easy knowing that their jobs are almost over, and the election season almost behind them. As long as they aren’t trapped in Michigan afterwards.
