Former SpaceX employees say they were fired in June for writing and circulating an open letter criticising the behaviour of the company’s CEO, Elon Musk. The eight ex-employees have filed unfair labour practices charges with the National Labour Relations Board. They claim SpaceX retaliated against them for writing the letter and that their dismissals were illegal.
A Thursday report in the New York Times revealed new details about what happened at SpaceX after the employees sent executives their open letter, which was drafted in the wake of a May story alleging Musk had exposed his genitals to a flight attendant and asked her for sex in exchange for a horse. Musk has denied the allegations, including the claim that SpaceX paid the flight attendant a $US250,000 ($347,050) settlement to keep quiet.
The Times report illustrates how Musk-led companies are inextricably linked to his identity and highlights the billionaire’s iron grip on how they’re run. Furthermore, the report underscores how Musk deals with dissent at his companies, a topic of high public interest at the moment given his treatment of Twitter employees, some of whom he’s firing via the social network they work on.
According to the outlet, shortly after SpaceX fired employees for their involvement in the letter, the company set up a meeting with a group of about 20 engineers. The employees involved in the NLRB case allege that nine employees were fired as a result of the letter, although only eight are listed in the claim.
Jon Edwards, SpaceX’s vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles, led the meeting and explained that employees had committed an “extremist act” by writing it. They were fired for distracting the company and challenging Musk, Edwards allegedly said. He also sent a message that Musk was untouchable, the according to the complaint, and could do whatever he wanted.
“SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX,” Edwards reportedly said, according to two employees at the meeting who spoke to the Times.
Gizmodo reached out to SpaceX but did not receive a response by the time of publication. SpaceX rarely responds to media requests.
In their June open letter, employees said that Musk’s public behaviour was “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment” for them and asked the company to “uphold clear repercussions for all unacceptable behaviour.” Perhaps most egregiously, the employees dared to question Musk’s tweets, which they called “de facto public statement[s] by the company.”
“It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values,” employees wrote in the open letter.
The CEO had, unsurprisingly, made light of the claims of sexual harassment in May, tweeting things like, “Fine, if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse.”
🤣🤣
Hi Chad, long time no see!
Fine, if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
He also gleefully referred to the scandal as “Elongate.”
Finally, we get to use Elongate as scandal name. It’s kinda perfect. 🤣 https://t.co/qSNH7lsn72
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
The account of the fired SpaceX employees bears striking resemblance to what has happened at Twitter in recent days, where Musk has moved quickly to quash rebellion. On Tuesday, he fired workers who shitposted about him in Slack. On Wednesday, he told the employees he had left that they could choose to be part of the new “hardcore Twitter,” characterised by “long hours at high intensity” and “exceptional performance,” or leave.