Daniels Manufacturing Company CEO Tells Employees Layoffs Could Come If Trump Loses
The owner of an Orlando manufacturing firm -- and a GOP megadonor-- warned his employees that if President Donald Trump loses his reelection bid next month, layoffs could be on the way.
The letter was sent to workers by George Daniels, who owns Daniels Manufacturing Company, a maker of parts and tools for electrical work on aircraft.
Daniels is also one of the region’s largest boosters of Republican candidates and causes, writing checks worth more than $800,000 in the past two years to GOP interests over a two-year period, including two separate $100,000 contributions to Trump-aligned groups, and another $100,000 to the conservative Club for Growth.
The letter, first reported by WESH-2 News, urged the company’s 170 employees to vote in the upcoming elections and warned jobs could be on the line.
“This year, because of the reduction of airline travel and civilian aircraft production caused by COVID-19, DMC is more dependent than ever before on receiving military orders. Unfortunately, Democrats historically always cut military funding, thus reducing military orders,” Daniels' letter reads.
“Irrespective of how any of us votes, the outcome of this election could have a major impact on us here at DMC. If Trump and the Republicans win, DMC will hopefully be able to continue operating, more or less, as it has been operating recently. However, if Biden and the Democrats win, DMC could be forced to begin permanent layoffs beginning in late 2020 and/or early 2021. Secret voting is one of our citizens' most precious rights.”
Daniels did not respond to a request for an interview.
Trump narrowly won Florida in 2016 over Hillary Clinton. But a number of recent polls show Trump trailing Democrat Joe Biden in one of the nation’s largest swing states.
The president held two rallies in the region last week, one in Sanford and another in Ocala. Biden appeared in Kissimmee recently and, on Monday, vice president candidate Kamala Harris held a drive-thru campaign stop at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
Daniels told the television station that his letter isn’t unique to this election and he’s written similar messages in previous years.
And he isn’t the only local executive to bring politics to the workplace. In 2012, time-share magnate David Siegel made headlines after he told employees to vote for Mitt Romney over then-President Barack Obama because he feared layoffs if Obama won.
“My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired and with no employees to worry about,” he wrote at the time.
But Romney lost and Siegel’s business portfolio continued to expand under Obama’s second term.
___
(c)2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
