Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel came under fire this week for sending an email to his employees demanding that they vote for Mitt Romney and threatening to downsize the company if they don't. But Siegel's email isn't an outlier. It fits a pattern of imperious CEOs attempting to marshal the support of their employees in pursuit of their own political interests.
Up w/ Chris Hayes has exclusively obtained an email sent by the CEO of a Florida-based software firm, ASG Software Solutions, to his over 1,000 employees asking them to vote for Romney for president and suggesting that their jobs may be at stake if Romney doesn't win. The subject line of the email, sent by ASG President and CEO Arthur Allen on Sept. 30, asks: "Will the US Presidential election directly impact your future jobs at ASG? Please read below."
Allen then suggests that the company may have to downsize, or be bought by a larger company, if President Obama is re-elected, and suggests that massive cuts and layoffs would ensue if that occurs.
"We have been able to keep ASG an independent company while still growing our revenues and customers. But I can tell you, if the US re-elects President Obama, our chances of staying independent are slim to none," Allen writes. "If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don't want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come.
Allen adds: "I am asking you to give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration on November 6th. Even then, we still might not be able to remain independent, but it will at least give us a chance. If we don't, that chance goes away."
Up w/ Chris attempted to contact Allen several times via phone and email during business hours on Friday. His outgoing message said he was out of the country, so Up w/ Chris also placed calls and sent emails to several other officials at ASG during business hours on Friday as well. We have not received a response.
Here's the full text of Allen's email:
Subject: Will the US Presidential election directly impact your future jobs at ASG? Please read below.
To all ASG employees,
We have been stuck in an extremely sick global economy, but as we should all know by now, the global economy largely depends on the US economy. This sick global economy has been negatively influencing ASG since December 2008. No one could have ever have dreamed that the US economy would still be sick 4 years later, but it is. We have a chance, as individuals, to help turn the sick US economy into a healthy economy, and positively influence the global economy as well. This chance comes on November 6th, when we elect a new President and administration. The US and the world need to elect individuals who have business experience. Neither the world nor the US can stand to elect politicians any longer. In my view, and in the view of most business leaders, if you give politicians 100 questions, they will give you back 100 wrong answers simply because they have no basis for making those decisions. Would you hire a person with no experience to do brain surgery? Of course not, but that's what the US voters did in 2009. Why does the world keep hiring politicians to run our global economies when they have no experience? It just makes no sense, and yet the world keeps doing it over and over again. Let's take the lead on November 6th and show the world how it should and can be done.
Many of you have been with ASG for over 5, 10, 15, and even 20 years. As you know, together, we have been able to keep ASG an independent company while still growing our revenues and customers. But I can tell you, if the US re-elects President Obama, our chances of staying independent are slim to none. I am already heavily involved in considering options that make our independence go away, and with that all of our lives would change forever. I believe that a new President and administration would give US citizens and the world the renewed confidence and optimism we all need to get the global economies started again, and give ASG a chance to stay independent. If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don't want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come. Remember, in the world of business, companies are consolidators or they get consolidated; so far ASG has been a consolidator, completing over 60 acquisitions in our 26 year history. When we buy a company, we eliminate about 60 percent of the salaries of the employees of that company. If we lose our independence and get consolidated, the same thing would happen to ASG's employees.
I am asking you to give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration on November 6th. Even then, we still might not be able to remain independent, but it will at least give us a chance. If we don't, that chance goes away.
I apologize for writing such a blunt email, but for those of you who have known me for years and years, you know that this must be serious, and it is. I am going to follow this email with an email to All Sales, offering all of our help to assist them in making Q4 the best quarter in ASG history. Business is hard to find, but it is out there if Sales just goes and gets it.
Mr. Allen
:: Sal Gentile (@salgentile) is a segment & digital producer for Up w/ Chris Hayes ::
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How can this issue be raised at the Town Hall Meeting this week? Why can't this type of coercion be legislated like sexual harrassment in the workplace or creating a hostile work environment? Not surprising that a flurry of this comes late in the campaign -- nothing further to do legally at this point. What are the unions doing to combat this?
Truly sick......but goes to show you after all the Koch Bros, Adelson, Norquist trying to buy this election (for the few). They realize at the end of the day 1 man/women equals 1 vote.
DEMS/LIBS/Progressives-- We must VOTE and not allow them to use bully tactics to steal our vote.
I never know if I should praise and admire your (Americans') understanding of "freedom of speech" or, well, NOT. When speech becomes an act (as defined by J. L. Austin if you want to google that), and, as Chris said, is even "coercive" - don't you think you want to legislate that, (especially) when there's a power imbalance and possibly even dependence as there is between you and your boss. I think we also need to protect the freedom of the worker, not just the freedom of the boss.
How about them Tigers & A's?
Tigers win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Voter restriction, Buying elections, Voter intimidation, Buying politicians and "We The People"?
Wasn't "Jersey Shore" fun last week?
It appears that Mr. Allen has the same problem Mr. Romney has. He speaks of the 'loss of independence' ASG enjoys but does not SPECIFY WHAT OBAMA ADMINISTRATION POLICIES THREATEN THAT INDEPENDENCE or WHAT ROMNEY POLICIES ALLEVIATE THAT THREAT. This must be a character flaw CEOs get when they rise to that position because the Koch letter to their employees is missing the same things. Rest assured these captains of industry will make a profit regardless of the occupant of the Oval Office - it is the 99% who stand to lose the most and suffer the worst. Vote Obama.
Well said. Well said.
Next threat from the Koch brothers and down line will be to tell their employees that they will be OUTSOURCED!!!
"Remember, in the world of business, companies are consolidators or they get consolidated; so far ASG has been a consolidator, completing over 60 acquisitions in our 26 year history. When we buy a company, we eliminate about 60 percent of the salaries of the employees of that company."
Perhaps this is the problem. No longer are companies looking to produce a great product or provide a great service, nor are they looking to provide good jobs, rather they are looking to push competitors out of the market to increase profit. I don't think it's all that admirable to try and eliminate 60% of salaries. It is such a short term view, those salaries buy products or services....without those salaries, companies will continue to "streamline" through consolidation and reduction in wages. It doesn't make sense for long term profit and growth.
That man is evil and he should go bankrupt, what a rotten cretin he is.
Margaret Youdelman
-- You have a very distorted imagination!!!!!!!!!!!!
ASG has every right to pursue corporate survival but if Mr. Allen or any of these other captains of industry want to influence PUBLIC elections they better make their VIEWS PUBLIC AS WELL instead of attempting to intimidate those who work to make their businesses successful. Jesus tells us 'He who is first among you must serve the rest, and he who is the greatest must serve the needs of all.' Until these captains of industry (and that includes Mr. Romney) come up with SPECIFIC POLICIES that will serve the interests of their employees these letters come off as SELF-serving attempts to influence an election.
This fits the thinking pattern of what I would term "hoggist" capital owners. As with Romney, a capitalist also, CEOs and the existing ownership class should focus on FUTURE ownership creation to solve the problems in our society (debt, jobs, social safety), but he does not. In a country where private property is so highly regarded it seems obvious that the president's (no matter who that person is) and Congress first priority would be to enact legislation to help all citizens achieve a level of meaningful ownership of productive assets. It is in CAPITAL OWNERSHIP that one becomes self-sufficient and prosperous, not in jobs, especially low-paying jobs that will continue to result as productive capital replaces labor and forces the value of labor further downward.
The economists advising politicians cling to Keynesian economic thinking as if it were immutable, as if it were hard science, as if it were the truth! All economists know they are on shaky ground so they cling more desperately to their failed messiah. The only hope for any system of government, for any monetary or commercial process is "inclusion." Any system that has effectively muscled out the majority cannot stand ... it will not stand.
And while the propaganda machine churns to mis-educate and spread fear and hatred, and effectively deflect a focus on the big issue of WHO OWNS AMERICA, the powerful elite ownership class continues to amass more productive capital business wealth and deny the opportunity for ordinary Americans to strengthen themselves as individuals and as self-sufficient new capitalists building a long term viable income-producing capital estate. Ordinary Americans are losing their inalienable right to property as the system is rigged to the benefit of the richest Americans and enables them to concentrate ownership of future productive capital economic growth in the name of JOB CREATION, which is a fallacy due to tectonic shifts in the technologies of production of products and services. There will never be enough REAL jobs now or in the future. Private sector job creation in numbers that match the pool of people willing and able to work is constantly being eroded by physical productive capital’s ever increasing role. As a result, the nation is adrift and rudderless because we have no strong visionary leaders to steer us on a journey to an ownership culture and a path to prosperity, opportunity and economic justice. And the people are torn with no confidence in a positive outcome.
There are solutioins. Support the Capital Homestead Act at and
You hypocrites don’t mind when celebrities come out and use their influences to call on people to support President Obama. But when a CEO of the company speaks out it is a problem.
Even if his employees don’t vote for Obama, there is no way for this CEO to find out and punish anybody. But if his company is not doing well, many would have to loose their jobs.
Very different power dynamic. It's coercive if it's the person signing your check telling you how to vote.
@Nataf, What is it, exactly, about Pres Obama's policy that would lead to no more independence for this company? How convenient that the CEO doesn't bother to explain. Probably the only reason that he wants Mitt Romney as President is that Romney is no friend of workers' rights. With him as President, companies could continue to erode the rights of workers and keep even more profit for themselves.
And, like Jennifer Fulton said, your boss telling you that you had better vote for Romney or there is a danger that you might lose your job is very different from a celebrity asking for a vote. George Clooney smiling in an ad, or hosting a fundraiser, is certainly not going to be intimidating to anybody!
Art Allen's terrible reputation as an employer within the software industry rivals that of pariah Charles B. Wang. Go to the website "glassdoor dot com" (it's .com) and find Allen Systems Group. ASG is a horrible place to work.
I think this is a decent thing for him to do. He is allowing his employees to have the full knowledge of the situation facing the company and telling them the consequences of the election to that company. If they don't care about the company (or their jobs) they can vote as such. If the company situation, their jobs, their community, is important to them, they can take that into consideration. We need information from many sources when we vote - the impact of that vote on our personal, medical, religious, employment, safety, and economic lives are all criteria we need to factor into our selection.
Force2
Everything you say here is true IF Mr. Allen even went that far. He, like Mr. Romney, did not. He can explain how he feels Obama Administration policies are adversely affecting his business so he cannot compete effectively (a tough sell unless he is doing something different than his competitors since federal policies affect them all) and how Mr. Romney's proposals will fix that but he did not. This is one of the major problems independents and the media has with Mr. Romney - no specific proposals to compare with what is happening now. These CEOs must have the same problem because all these companies are sitting on RECORD AMOUNTS OF CASH ON HAND waiting for something definite to invest in. The Romney/Ryan campaign has to come forward with SPECIFIC proposals showing NUMBERS WE CAN TRUST for the voters because the voters DO NOT TRUST and WILL NOT TRUST the lack of same.
What will be the next Allen threat? Outsourcing?
The Koch brothers are two of the most blatant bastards.
Chris, this is also happening in smaller bizzes all over the country. Even here in Obama friendly Austin, an iconic local fave restaurant chain is pressuring employess to vote GOP or else. The story, with a scan of the memo attached to every paycheck, is here...
Okay, no URL's allowed? Search for...
Everything Possible Happens: Iconic Austin Restaurant Pressures
John
I cannot be certain, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that new people to Newsvine (and I do not know how 'new' is new) are not allowed to post URLs. Click on your own name on any of your posts and bring up your account. The rules are there somewhere.
I left a company two years ago when I was told that unless Obama was elected to 2 terms, I would be losing my health insurance, as the insurance was getting too expensive. Another case of CEO's overstepping. But I chalk this up to the same "mindset" that tells workers that they can't smoke anywhere, even at home, and still work for the company. How is that any different? Still people trying to control what others are doing. And please...MSNBC, print the Democratic CEO's who are doing the same thing.
Mr. Russell #17
The conduct of your former company is reprehensible and the officers should face felony charges just like Mr. Allen and the Koch brothers. One difference I do note, however, is that you were given a specific policy reason - these CEOs did not even do that. Also, your job was not threatened - for no particular reason. Granted, it is a subtle difference - intimidation is intimidation after all. I hope everything worked out for you.
Is this practice allowed by the law? This intimidation/blackmail!
Wasn't G.W. Bush a business man? He indeed was. After two terms of his failed policies that dug us into the deep hole that President Obama is slowly getting us out of, the GOTP today doesn't even want to get associated to that man who was their leader for 8 years.
Arthur Allen is an idiot.
Art's been sending e-mails like these to the ENTIRE company multiple times a month for years and I'm surprised that it's taken this long for him to start getting attention. Furthermore, I'm surprised that no attention is being drawn to his way of managing the company and treatment of employees.
Around four years ago, all US employees were forced into a four-day work week, amounting to about a 20% paycut. Everyone was told that it would be temporary and after close to three years at 80% pay, an e-mail was sent out to the entire company with a date that everyone would be returning to full pay and people were ecstatic. Within a week of that date, another e-mail went out letting everyone know that they would not, in fact, be returning to full pay on that date. A four day work week has some advantages, sure, but employees at ASG are severely underpaid to begin with. Take 20% away from that and people really start hurting.
All that said, he went even lower this month. Banks are wising up and realizing that he's never going to be able to repay his debts and have stopped lending to him. He sent out an e-mail to the entire company requesting that employees defer their paychecks for two months in order for him to save enough money to hit an interest payment. He can't borrow any more money from banks, so he's asking to borrow it from the thousands of people he's been stealing from for years! Not even to mention that he brags about how he flies from continent to continent 300 days out of the year in his private jet or how he cruises around the Atlantic in his $30-million yacht. If the guy really cared about helping his company and employees, I can think up some very easy ways to hit that interest payment.
After everything he's put people through, he's going to try to bully them into voting for Romney to bump his wallet up anymore. Fact of the matter is that if your company is good and has products worth buying that there is a demand for, you're going to turn a profit regardless of who is president. It's obvious that he wants Romney to win strictly so that he can increase his personal income. I just hope the employees aren't naive to believe that if Obama loses they'll return to 100% pay.
ASG CEO Allen's email to employees failed to show HOW or WHY a Romney victory, or reductions in US government spending, would improve the US economy, or the global economy, or ASG's survivability.
Maybe we need to dig a little deeper into Allen's thinking. After all, he is a CEO and they are supposed to know stuff.
Here is a quote from CEO Allen:
"We have been stuck in an extremely sick global economy, but as we should all know by now, the global economy largely depends on the US economy. This sick global economy has been negatively influencing ASG"
To Review Allen's thinking:
A] The global economy largely depends on the US economy
B] This sick global economy has been negatively influencing ASG
Now lets analyse Allen's thinking:
ASG's fragile financial state is "due to the sick global economy" and the sick global economy is not being helped enough by the US economy because the US economy is weak due to "this ridiculous government spending"
And just what has the US Govt. spending that money on? - CEO Allen didn't say, but we all know that a lof of the increase in the US govt debt came from propping up the global economy.
Many economists agree that the global economy would have collapsed without that US govt help because banks and entire national economies and their currencies faiil; as banks go under $100s of Billions are lost, and as national currencies become worthless many more $Billions and $Trillions of dollars lose their value - BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY TO AMERICA AND ASG, AS THOSE BANKS AND NATIONS DEFAULT, THE US TREASURY NOTES AND AMERICAN DOLLARS THEY HELD WOULD BE DEVALUED - the US dollar would be worth half of what it is, or perhaps nothing at all. All would be lost - THAT IS THE SITUATION Pres. Obama was facing.
Would ASG really be better off, then, or in the future, without US government spending?
Conclusion:
Allen's thinking isn't helping, because it doesn't make much sense. Therefore, Allen might have another reason for wanting Romney to become President.
Could it be because Allen's personal wealth will be greater if Romney is President because there will be lower tax rates for Allen to pay when ASG dies or is sold off - and Allen's personal wealth might take a huge bump UP if ASG fails because Allen will get termination benefits and maybe he can cash in his stock options, and all that money will be taxed... so if the rates drop even slightly Allen will be that much wealthier, and Romney is the guy to do that.
It has nothing to do with economic theory, or the steel-trap reasoning of the Great CEO mind, or the well being of ASG or the employees, it is just Allen's greed.
ASG CEO Allen's email to employees failed to show HOW or WHY a Romney victory, or reductions in US government spending, would improve the US economy, or the global economy, or ASG's survivability.
Maybe we need to dig a little deeper into Allen's thinking. After all, he is a CEO and they are supposed to know stuff.
Here is a quote from CEO Allen:
"We have been stuck in an extremely sick global economy, but as we should all know by now, the global economy largely depends on the US economy. This sick global economy has been negatively influencing ASG"
To Review Allen's thinking:
A] The global economy largely depends on the US economy
B] This sick global economy has been negatively influencing ASG
Now lets analyse Allen's thinking:
ASG's fragile financial state is "due to the sick global economy" and the sick global economy is not being helped enough by the US economy because the US economy is weak due to "this ridiculous government spending"
And just what has the US Govt. spending that money on? - CEO Allen didn't say, but we all know that a lof of the increase in the US govt debt came from propping up the global economy.
Many economists agree that the global economy would have collapsed without that US govt help because banks and entire national economies and their currencies faiil; as banks go under $100s of Billions are lost, and as national currencies become worthless many more $Billions and $Trillions of dollars lose their value - BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY TO AMERICA AND ASG, AS THOSE BANKS AND NATIONS DEFAULT, THE US TREASURY NOTES AND AMERICAN DOLLARS THEY HELD WOULD BE DEVALUED - the US dollar would be worth half of what it is, or perhaps nothing at all. All would be lost - THAT IS THE SITUATION Pres. Obama was facing.
Would ASG really be better off, then, or in the future, without US government spending?
Conclusion:
Allen's thinking isn't helping, because it doesn't make much sense. Therefore, Allen might have another reason for wanting Romney to become President.
Could it be because Allen's personal wealth will be greater if Romney is President because there will be lower tax rates for Allen to pay when ASG dies or is sold off - and Allen's personal wealth might take a huge bump UP if ASG fails because Allen will get termination benefits and maybe he can cash in his stock options, and all that money will be taxed... so if the rates drop even slightly Allen will be that much wealthier, and Romney is the guy to do that.
It has nothing to do with economic theory, or the steel-trap reasoning of the Great CEO mind, or the well being of ASG or the employees, it is just Allen's greed.