The long running will-they-won’t-they tango between Elon Musk and Twitter appears to finally be coming to a close, and Twitter employees are not happy about who their new boss will be. Musk previously disclosed to investors his plans to axe 75% of the company’s workforce, and Twitter employees have responded in a coordinated letter to Musk and Twitter’s board.
Musk’s forthcoming acquisition of Twitter is ending not with a whimper, but with a scream from employees of the social media platform. After being rightfully concerned about the tycoon’s alleged plan to gut 75% of the company’s workforce following his takeover, Twitter employees mobilized by penning a joint letter addressed Musk and the company’s board to express their discontent over the direction the platform and company could take under the new leadership. The letter was obtained and reviewed by Time, and published in full on Monday.
“Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” the letter reads, as quoted in Time. “A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”
The letter further explains that Twitter has helped independent journalism thrive, specifically in places like Ukraine as political agendas skew the goings-ons in volatile areas. The workers behind the letter also express that layoffs will threaten their livelihood, specifically access to company benefits like healthcare, and call Musk’s previous comments on firings “negligent layoff threats.”
“A threat to workers at Twitter is a threat to Twitter’s future. These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter,” the letter continues.
The workers closed out their letter by demanding respect from their higher-ups, safety from discrimination on factors like race, gender, visa status, and political beliefs, protection of employment benefits, and “to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.”
Time notes that it’s not clear how many employees have signed the letter, and that a note to potential employee signers allegedly read “Signatures will not be made public unless we have critical mass.”