[US] Fired Twitter cleaners told they would be replaced by robots

A member of Elon Musk's team told Twitter's fired cleaning staff that their jobs would be replaced by robots, NDTV reports.

The now-former employees worked at the San Francisco headquarters of the microblogging website. according to a BBC report, they also said they had been fired without any severance pay. 

Julio Alvarado had been a cleaner for 10 years at Twitter, he told the BBC that, after Mr Musk acquired the company in October, he was escorted by private security while cleaning parts of the office. He also reportedly said that he was told by someone from Mr Musk's team that his job would soon be obsolete anyway because robots would eventually replace human cleaners. 

According to BBC reporting, the cleaners' union was only told at the start of the month that their jobs were under threat. They subsequently organised a strike, on December 5, to protest. But they were then told that they had been laid off effective immediately. 

"They did this three weeks before Christmas," union president Olga Miranda said. "I think we were fired because we're a union," she added. 

The firings are reportedly being investigated by San Francisco city attorney, David Chiu, to see if Mr Musk broke the law. "Elon Musk has had a long history of flouting labour laws. While I'm not surprised this happened, I feel for these workers. We will be looking into this further," Mr Chiu told the BBC. 

After taking over Twitter in October, Musk immediately fired the microblogging platform's top executives. A week later, he fired almost half the company's 7,500 staff. 

According to reporting from The Independent, Twitter has been sued by two women who lost their jobs and claim that the layoffs disproportionately affected female employees. They filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco. It stated that Twitter laid off 57 per cent of its female staff, compared to only 47 per cent of men at the company. 

Source: NDTV

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

A member of Elon Musk's team told Twitter's fired cleaning staff that their jobs would be replaced by robots, NDTV reports.

The now-former employees worked at the San Francisco headquarters of the microblogging website. according to a BBC report, they also said they had been fired without any severance pay. 

Julio Alvarado had been a cleaner for 10 years at Twitter, he told the BBC that, after Mr Musk acquired the company in October, he was escorted by private security while cleaning parts of the office. He also reportedly said that he was told by someone from Mr Musk's team that his job would soon be obsolete anyway because robots would eventually replace human cleaners. 

According to BBC reporting, the cleaners' union was only told at the start of the month that their jobs were under threat. They subsequently organised a strike, on December 5, to protest. But they were then told that they had been laid off effective immediately. 

"They did this three weeks before Christmas," union president Olga Miranda said. "I think we were fired because we're a union," she added. 

The firings are reportedly being investigated by San Francisco city attorney, David Chiu, to see if Mr Musk broke the law. "Elon Musk has had a long history of flouting labour laws. While I'm not surprised this happened, I feel for these workers. We will be looking into this further," Mr Chiu told the BBC. 

After taking over Twitter in October, Musk immediately fired the microblogging platform's top executives. A week later, he fired almost half the company's 7,500 staff. 

According to reporting from The Independent, Twitter has been sued by two women who lost their jobs and claim that the layoffs disproportionately affected female employees. They filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco. It stated that Twitter laid off 57 per cent of its female staff, compared to only 47 per cent of men at the company. 

Source: NDTV

(Links and quotes via original reporting)