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Twitter staff raise fears over being “pawns in a game being played by billionaires”

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Twitter staff have written an open letter to Elon Musk after the billionaire's "reckless" threat to cut 75 percent of the workforce, claiming the company is "bloated."

Musk has until Friday to complete his $44 billion takeover of the social media giant or will end up back in court.

Ahead of the completion, Musk claimed the workforce has a "strong left-wing bias."

READ MORE: TWITTER WILL NOT CARRY OUT MASS LAYOFFS AFTER $44 BILLION ELON MUSK TAKEOVER

Time was given a draft of the open letter, which was circulated among Twitter employees on Monday, October 24.

Musk has told potential funders of his Twitter bid he planned to replace or remove jobs, reducing the number of staff from 7,500 to just 2,000.

Twitter has denied there would be job cuts of this scale.

The letter demands Musk commits to preserving the current staffing levels if the takeover takes place.

It also demands staff are not discriminated against for their political beliefs.

It is not known how many Twitter staff have signed the letter.

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The full text of the open letter

Staff, Elon Musk, and Board of Directors:

We, the undersigned Twitter workers, believe the public conversation is in jeopardy.

Elon Musk's plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter's ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users' and customers' trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.

Twitter has significant effects on societies and communities across the globe. As we speak, Twitter is helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world.

A threat to workers at Twitter is a threat to Twitter's future. These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.

We, the workers at Twitter, will not be intimidated. We recommit to supporting the communities, organizations, and businesses who rely on Twitter. We will not stop serving the public conversation.

We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform.

We demand of current and future leadership:

Respect: We demand leadership to respect the platform and the workers who maintain it by committing to preserving the current headcount.

Safety: We demand that leadership does not discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. We also demand safety for workers on visas, who will be forced to leave the country they work in if they are laid off.

Protection: We demand Elon 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.

Dignity: 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.

Sincerely,

Twitter workers

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