Twitter employees have penned an open letter to soon-to-be boss Elon Musk and the Board of Directors begging to keep their jobs, after the Washington Postreported that Musk is planning to get rid of nearly 75%of the company's 7,500 workers - whittling Twitter down to a 'skeleton' staff of just over 2,000.
"Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation," reads a draft of the letter, which has not yet been published. "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 then suggests that the full staff is "helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world."
The employees then demand that 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."
They also demand "Dignity," writing "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."
Following the '75% layoff' report, 'experts' told ABC News that the change could "compromise the platform's capacity to police false or harmful content, with ramifications that extend to social issues like election integrity," and that "The experience of a typical user could change significantly, they added, noting the possible rise of harassment and other forms of corrosive discourse."
"Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation," reads a draft of the letter, which has not yet been published. "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 then suggests that the full staff is "helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world."
The employees then demand that 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."
They also demand "Dignity," writing "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."
Following the '75% layoff' report, 'experts' told ABC News that the change could "compromise the platform's capacity to police false or harmful content, with ramifications that extend to social issues like election integrity," and that "The experience of a typical user could change significantly, they added, noting the possible rise of harassment and other forms of corrosive discourse."
Musk has reportedly told employees that "Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about," according to a June 16 tweet from Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner.
