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An open letter called on startup executives to change the company’s work culture to make it more inclusive.
Author of the article:
Reuters
Joey Roulette and Eric M. Johnson
Publication date:
June 17, 2022 • 15 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 51 comments Elon Musk looks at his cell phone at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo by Steve Nessius / Reuters files
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Private rocket company SpaceX fired at least five employees after finding it had drafted and distributed a letter criticizing founder Elon Musk urging executives to make the company’s culture more inclusive, two people familiar with the matter said.
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SpaceX did not respond immediately to Reuters’ request for comment.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that SpaceX had fired employees associated with the letter, citing three employees familiar with the situation. It did not specify the number of employees who were fired.
SpaceX President Gwyn Shotwell sent an email saying the company had investigated and “fired a number of employees involved” in the letter, according to the New York Times.
The newspaper said Shotwell’s email said employees involved in distributing the letter had been fired for making other employees feel “uncomfortable, scared and harassed and / or angry because the letter forced them to sign.” something that does not reflect their views. “
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Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Billionaire Musk is pursuing a $ 44 billion bid for Twitter and has made clear his support for freer control of the site’s speech. On Thursday, he told Twitter officials that the platform should allow “quite scandalous things” as long as the content is not illegal.
A letter from SpaceX, titled “an open letter to SpaceX executives” seen by Reuters, called Musk a “distraction and embarrassment” for the company he founded.
A list of three requests states that “SpaceX must quickly and explicitly separate itself from Elon’s personal brand”, “hold all management equally accountable to make SpaceX a great place to work for all” and “define and respond equally. of all forms of unacceptable behavior. “
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Musk, also head of electric car maker Tesla Inc, was in the headlines and featured in late-night comedy monologues in recent months, including his quest to take over Twitter, his criticism of Democrats and a reported allegation of sexual harassment that Musk denied in Twitter post.
The open letter to SpaceX, first reported by The Verge, was produced by SpaceX employees in recent weeks and shared as an attachment in an internal group chat “Morale Boosters” that brings together thousands of employees, said a source familiar with the matter. not to be named.
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Musk, also the company’s chief engineer, has been seen as a central figure in many of SpaceX’s high-profile successes, pioneering the reuse of orbital rocket boosters and the return of routine human spaceflight from the United States after a nine-year hiatus.
Shotwell, who runs much of the company’s day-to-day business, said she would impose SpaceX’s “zero tolerance” standards on employee harassment.
Founded by Musk in 2002, SpaceX has played a central role in the US space program, becoming the only company capable of launching NASA astronauts into space from US space and plans to send people to the moon for the space agency in the next decade.
SpaceX is also one of the two companies on which the Pentagon depends to launch most of the US military and spy satellites into space.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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