It is not common to hear that SpaceX is in trouble. However, according to The Verge, The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of the United States accused the aerospace company of dismiss a group of employees illegally. Specifically, workers lost their jobs because they criticized Elon Muskfounder and CEO of SpaceX.
In mid-June 2023, SpaceX employees, through a letter, They complained about Elon Musk’s bad behavior. The document mentioned the manager’s actions on social networks, mainly on Twitter (now X). They considered that, since Musk is the top leader of the company, his publications could be seen as a reflection of what is believed or thought within SpaceX, something completely out of reality.
“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, especially in recent weeks. As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX: every Tweet Elon sends is a company’s de facto public statement. It is essential to make clear to our teams and our potential talent pool that your messages do not reflect our work, our mission or our values,” the letter mentioned.
The employees, in addition, They demanded quick action by SpaceX to stop Elon Musk’s bad behavior. One of them suggested a public statement to condemn the tycoon’s actions.
SpaceX will have to apologize…
SpaceX didn’t just ignore the letter. One day later, several employees who participated in writing it were fired. According to Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, the dissemination of the document caused other workers — who did not participate — to feel “uncomfortable, intimidated and harassed.”
“The letter, the requests, and the overall process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and harassed, and/or angry. The letter pressured them to sign something that did not reflect their views. We have too much critical work to do and “We don’t need this kind of far-reaching activism.”
Gwynne Shotwel.
According to the investigation by the National Labor Relations Board, SpaceX questioned its employees in order to find out who had been involved in creating the letter. Furthermore, they They asked not to reveal that these interrogations occurred.
Thus, the aforementioned organization determined that SpaceX violated workers’ right to demand better working conditions. Additionally, she conveyed a sense of “surveillance” by exposing screenshots of private conversations between employees. An interesting point is that SpaceX knew the content of the letter before it was published. They even tried to stop its spread—unsuccessfully, of course.
What will happen now? The NLRB has requested that SpaceX offer an apology to each of the employees who were fired. Also, spread a statement about the importance of labor rights. It should be noted that theThe company could receive more severe sanctions during a trial that will begin on March 5.