Twitter staff cuts are ‘not acceptable’, says Taoiseach
Twitter HQ at 1 Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos
Twitter staff should be treated with respect and the way the social media platform has treated them is "unacceptable", Micheál Martin has said.
Twitter temporarily closed its offices on Friday after telling employees they will be informed by email later in the day whether they are being laid off.
The move follows a week of uncertainty about the company's future under new owner Elon Musk.
The Taoiseach was asked about the decision to fire staff at short notice and lock them out of their Dublin offices.
Speaking at the opening of the Thurles Primary Care Centre, he said: "We are concerned and our concern is for the employees of Twitter.
"It has changed ownership globally.
"There seems to be a fairly unprecedented approach adopted here to a global workforce and that is manifesting itself in Ireland.
"What I would say is that fundamentally no matter who you are or what sector you are in, one must always treat people with dignity and respect.
"The employees of Twitter deserve to be treated with respect.
"I read some of the commentary from the workers - they enjoyed working with them (over the years), the Twitter that they knew.
"They had a good sense of collegiality there. They enjoyed their work experience.
"The summary notice of dismissal or you are no longer working (for Twitter), is not acceptable.
"That is not the way we conduct industrial relations or organise relationships between employers and employees.
"There has to be respect - there has to be dignity in situations like this."
The social media company said in an email to staff that it will alert employees by 4pm about staff cuts.
"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," said the email sent on Thursday, seen by Reuters.
Twitter has a significant presence in Ireland. Company accounts show the company employed less than 200 people prior to the pandemic but this increased to 243 in 2020 and today, Twitter employs an estimated 500 people at offices in Dublin.
Some Irish staff have already reported being let go by the company. One tweeted to say: "Woke up to the sad news that I’m no longer a Tweep.
"I loved every single moment working on the global Twitter Comms team, collaborating with and learning from an outstanding group of talented people."
Woke up to the sad news that I’m no longer a Tweep.
— Gareth Field (@GField17) November 4, 2022
I loved every single moment working on the global @TwitterComms team, collaborating with and learning from an outstanding group of talented people.
Thank you to everyone who made it so special. #OneTeam #LoveWhereYouWorked
Another added: "I loved this company with all my heart. I was incredibly proud to work here for nearly 5 years learning from the best people but all good things come to an end."
It is unclear how many Irish staff will be let go.
The Taoiseach also warned that commentators needed to be cautious about talking down Ireland's tech sector amid fears of wider cuts across a number of different tech companies.
He said: "We have to be careful about the language we use.
"We are going through global challenges - the whole world is.
"The war in Ukraine is having its impact. From time to time different sectors having very periods of activity and growth and then they can regress somewhat.
"We have been through that as a country and we have come back.
"I mean I have been through a situation where one time in my political life we were fighting for the survival of Apple.
"Now there are 6,000 people working in Apple. It is about re-adapting and re-consolidating.
"In some of the areas of tech, we are more involved in manufacturing here than we are in terms of sales which will give us some buffer.
'But no doubt, the tech world is going through a very difficult period for number of reasons.
"We have got to absorb those and have a focus on how we look at the new opportunities that will undoubtedly arise and we do working with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland in terms of indigenous companies to weather the storm."
Speaking on Thursday, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly it is a concerning time for Twitter staff.
"We do have operations here in Ireland and I'd say it is a very concerning day. My understanding is that emails will be received this evening and certainly Twitter appear to have signaled a very significant reduction."
Mr Donnelly highlighted how it will be difficult for those involved adding: "We do have laws here in terms of making sure that there are redundancy payments, and, and so forth."
He said he did not believe the job cuts were part of a broader move.
"These seem to be specific to a particular purchase of Twitter, and moves that are moves that are being made there. But nonetheless, it will be a very concerning time.
"I think the good news, however, is Ireland has close to zero, real, you know, real unemployment in the country at this stage and I think it is a testament to our private sector and the strength of our private sector and innovation of the country."
Speaking from Singapore while on a trade mission, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said his thoughts were also with the employees at Stripe and Twitter who will lose their jobs.
“Tech companies expanded very quickly, probably expanded a little bit too quickly in the past year or two, and as a result they now have to lay off some staff,” the enterprise minister told .
“But the number of vacancies in the sector still outweighs the number of people who are looking for employment, so even a slowdown or a downturn in the tech sector I think still means that you’ll have some very successful companies making profits and a lot of people working in that sector.”
Mr Varadkar also said that Ireland had been “careful” not to become over-reliant on any one sector.
“Tech is really big, but so is life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and indeed our food and drink industry, and that’s just the traded sector.
“So we’ve been careful to make sure that we don’t have all our eggs in one basket and that’s been part of our success story.”
Twitter said its offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended in order "to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data."
The social media platform said Twitter employees who are not affected by the layoffs will be notified via their work email addresses.
Staff who have been laid off will be notified with next steps to their personal email addresses, the memo said.
Some employees tweeted their access to the company's IT system has been already blocked and feared whether that suggested their layoffs.
"Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack," tweeted a user with the @SBkcrn account whose profile is described as former senior community manager at Twitter.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk, the world's richest person, is looking to cut around 3,700 Twitter staff, or about half the workforce, as he seeks to slash costs and impose a demanding new work ethic, according to internal plans reviewed by Reuters this week.
Twitter employees vented their frustrations about the layoffs on the social network, using the hashtag #OneTeam.
User rachel bonn tweeted: "Last Thursday in the SF (San Francisco) office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter. 8 months pregnant and have a 9 month old. Just got cut off from laptop access."
Responding to the #OneTeam thread, Twitter's Head of Safety & Integrity Yoel Roth, said: "Tweeps: My DMs (direct message routes) are always open to you. Tell me how I can help. "
Roth was the most senior executive to message publicly with a tweet of support for staff who are losing their jobs. He also appeared to still have his job. Last week, Musk endorsed Roth, citing his "high integrity" after he was called out over tweets critical of former U.S. President Donald Trump years earlier.
Roth did not respond to a request for comment.
The notification of layoffs caps off a week of purges by Musk as he demanded deep cost cuts and imposed an aggressive new work ethic across the social media company.
He has directed Twitter's teams to find up to $1bn in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters.
He had already cleared out the company's senior ranks, firing its chief executive and top finance and legal executives. Others, including those sitting atop the company's advertising, marketing and human resources divisions, departed throughout the past week.
Musk's first week as Twitter's owner has been marked by chaos and uncertainty. Two company-wide meetings were scheduled, only to be canceled mere hours later. Employees told Reuters they were left to piece together information through media reports, private messaging groups and anonymous forums.
The layoffs, which were long expected, have chilled Twitter's famously open corporate culture that has been revered by its employees.
"If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home," Twitter said in the email on Thursday.
Shortly after the email landed in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people flooded the company's Slack channels to say goodbye, two employees told Reuters. Someone invited Musk to join the channel, the sources said.
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