“He treats them like garbage”: the harsh criticism of Musk after firing part of his cleaning team

Long working hours and a hostile atmosphere are just some of the criticisms that accumulate day after day against Elon Musk since he bought Twitter at the end of October. Now those of part of its cleaning staff fired without compensation are added to a few weeks of Christmas.

“I can only say that I don’t have money to pay the rent”Mexican Julio Alvarado told the BBC that until this week he was in charge of cleaning Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. “I will not have health insurance. I do not know what I’m going to do”.

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Alvarado had worked there for 10 years and points out that the atmosphere was always pleasant. However, this changed with the arrival of Musk.

“People worked without worries”indicates. “Now we are afraid”he denounces, at the same time that he points out that since the sale of Twitter he was escorted by security personnel while he cleaned parts of the offices and that they even told him that the robots would replace cleaning personnel in the future.

Julio Alvarado supports his family in Mexico, something he doesn’t know how he’s going to do now.

In this context, a senator from the state of California denounced that Musk was treating former employees “like garbage” and that the cleaners had received “horrible” treatment.

“In the short term, I would like to see him (Elon Musk) treat his cleaners like human beings,” Scott Wiener told the BBC, “and get them back to work, not get fired just before Christmas,” the senator added.

Meanwhile, San Francisco prosecutor David Chiu stated that he is investigating whether Musk broke the law with these firings. Twitter has not responded to a BBC request for comment.

“Elon Musk has had a long record of contempt for labor laws”Chiu told the BBC. “While I’m not surprised what happened, I feel sorry for these workers. We will investigate this further,” she added.

Cleaners fired from the Twitter union demonstrate at the headquarters.

Along with Alvarado, the BBC spoke to three other Spanish-speaking workers from Twitter’s cleaning staff. All worried about how to move forward as there are few cleaning vacancies available in San Francisco right now.

The cleaners had been working on Twitter for the past week until they were told their jobs were under threat.

Olga Miranda, president of the cleaners union, explained that they organized a strike on Monday to protest. They were then told of their immediate dismissal.

“They did it three weeks before Christmas. I think they fired us because we are a union,” he said.

Adrianna Villarreal, who worked for Twitter for four years, doesn’t know how she’s going to feed her family at Christmas.

“It’s sad and frustrating for our families and our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Juana Laura Chavero Ramírez, who worked for Twitter for five years, is diabetic and worries that she won’t be able to get her medication. “It’s horrible,” she declared.

sleeping in the offices

These are not the only criticisms against Musk since he took control of Twitter and announced to his workers that they would have to work “long hours at high intensity”.

The BBC received photos of Twitter offices turned into bedrooms and sofas turned into beds, something San Francisco authorities are investigating as a possible building code violation.

One of the photos received by the BBC.

“Now it forces them (workers) to sleep on Twitter,” Senator Scott Wiener told the BBC on Wednesday.

“It’s clear he doesn’t care about people. He doesn’t care about the people who work for him”he added.

Not only are the workers staying in the offices, but also Musk himself.

A former employee said the new Twitter boss has been staying at the headquarters since he bought the company.

In a now-deleted tweet, Musk said he would work and sleep in the office “until the organization is fixed.”

A conference room turned bedroom at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters

Forbes published the story of the “dreary bedrooms in recently depopulated company headquarters conference room,” noting that it was an apparent improvement on the impromptu arrangement of sleeping bags on the floor posted on Twitter by an employee.

The rooms, according to Bloomberg, would also serve as accommodation for staff from Tesla and other Musk-owned companies who work at Twitter, “some of whom travel to Twitter for business meetings,” the sources told the publication.

An official from the Building Inspection Department told CBS News: “We have to make sure that the building is used as intended.”

In a response to a reporter on Twitter about this, Musk posted that the city should prioritize protecting children from the consequences of opioid drug use.

In May 2020, before the Musk takeover, Twitter told its employees they could work from home “forever” if they wanted to because its remote work measures during the covid shutdowns had been successful.

Last month, Musk ended this measure.

Source: Elcomercio