From the time I last spoke on this, there has been a series of twists in the saga before cumulating in Musk eventually completing the acquisition roughly three days ago. He trotted into the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco carrying a bathroom sink and Tweeting "Let that sink in."
Oh. My. God.
Being a peddler of corny jokes myself, ignoring the fact that I'm really not a big fan of Elon Musks's obnoxious tech-bro persona, who better qualified to make dad jokes than a father of ten? Just saying.
Not having a Twitter account myself, and therefore having very little skin in the game, I'm largely unconcerned with the acquisition. What actually did catch my attention was this open letter that Twitter employees wrote to Elon Musk to protest his planned layoffs of up to two-thirds of staff.
The Letter
I had several issues with the letter - its tone, content and the fact that large parts of it barely made any sense. Let's start with the letter in its entirety. I originally saw the letter here.Staff, Elon Musk, and Board of Directors:
We, the undersigned Twitter workers, believe the public conversation is in jeopardy.
Elon Musk's plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter's ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users' and customers' trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.
Twitter has significant effects on societies and communities across the globe. As we speak, Twitter is helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world.
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. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.
We, the workers at Twitter, will not be intimidated. We recommit to supporting the communities, organizations, and businesses who rely on Twitter. We will not stop serving the public conversation.
We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform.
We demand of current and future leadership:
Respect: We demand leadership to respect the platform and the workers who maintain it by committing to preserving the current headcount.
Safety: We demand that leadership does not discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. We also demand safety for workers on visas, who will be forced to leave the country they work in if they are laid off.
Protection: We demand Elon Musk explicitly commit to preserve our benefits, those both listed in the merger agreement and not (e.g. remote work). We demand leadership to establish and ensure fair severance policies for all workers before and after any change in ownership.
Dignity: We demand transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions. We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.
Sincerely,
Twitter workers
We, the undersigned Twitter workers, believe the public conversation is in jeopardy.
Elon Musk's plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter's ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users' and customers' trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.
Twitter has significant effects on societies and communities across the globe. As we speak, Twitter is helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world.
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. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.
We, the workers at Twitter, will not be intimidated. We recommit to supporting the communities, organizations, and businesses who rely on Twitter. We will not stop serving the public conversation.
We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform.
We demand of current and future leadership:
Respect: We demand leadership to respect the platform and the workers who maintain it by committing to preserving the current headcount.
Safety: We demand that leadership does not discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. We also demand safety for workers on visas, who will be forced to leave the country they work in if they are laid off.
Protection: We demand Elon Musk explicitly commit to preserve our benefits, those both listed in the merger agreement and not (e.g. remote work). We demand leadership to establish and ensure fair severance policies for all workers before and after any change in ownership.
Dignity: We demand transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions. We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.
Sincerely,
Twitter workers
So, let's unpack!
Elon Musk's plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter's ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users' and customers' trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.
Wait, "worker intimidation"? What's with the "intimidation" part? What would Elon Musk be trying to intimidate them into doing? Layoffs after an acquisition aren't at all uncommon, so I really have no idea where this is coming from.
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. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.
Seems a little pompous, but OK. Again, I'm not sure what this "harassment" thing is coming from.
We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform.
In a professional environment, nobody "deserves" anything. That's childish. It is not about what you deserve or don't deserve, but rather about what you can and can't get.
Respect: We demand leadership to respect the platform and the workers who maintain it by committing to preserving the current headcount.
Layoffs were going to happen, with or without the acquisition. While Elon Musk probably isn't going to really axe two-thirds of staff (at least, not right away, that would be insane), expecting no layoffs at all is utterly unrealistic, and including this demand undermines the credibility of this letter.
Safety: We demand that leadership does not discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. We also demand safety for workers on visas, who will be forced to leave the country they work in if they are laid off.
I was under the impression that companies in the USA already can't legally discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs, in any case. So this seems a little redundant.
It could be argued that these workers, especially if they have been behind the uneven enforcement of moderation policies and turning Twitter into a left-wing echo chamber full of enthusiastically woke virtue-signallers, really have no leg to be standing on with regard to discrimination on the basis of political beliefs. But if I go this route, it could take all night... so I won't bother.
Protection: We demand Elon Musk explicitly commit to preserve our benefits, those both listed in the merger agreement and not (e.g. remote work). We demand leadership to establish and ensure fair severance policies for all workers before and after any change in ownership.
Oh, good luck with that! Elon Musk has a reputation of not being enamored with remote work at all. Anyone making this a demand is practically begging to be part of the layoffs.
And hold on, I thought Elon Musk was supposed to be "preserving the current headcount". Why would severance policies come in, then? This is a headscratcher.
Dignity: We demand transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions. We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.
Were these people actually under the impression that they weren't pawns? Delusional. You work for Twitter. Not being a pawn of some sort is not an option.
 |
| Meet our demands, or else! |
I also notice that the word "demand" is used a lot. That is frankly bizarre. When people make demands, unless they don't mind looking utterly ridiculous, they are usually in a position to be doing so. There are several demands in this letter... and no mention of any concrete consequences if these demands are not met. Like, what will these guys do if Musk decides to fire them anyway? Stop working at Twitter? How does this work? How is any of this supposed to work?
Final words
My sympathies go out to those who have lost their jobs, or are in a position to lose theirs. It's rarely fun. And it is absolutely natural to experience anxiety over this. But writing a letter like that really isn't the way to go. If you're going to be unemployed soon, the last thing you want to do is look stupid.I sink, therefore I am.
T___T
T___T
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