Callous treatment of Twitter staff does not bode well for future direction of company under new ownership
Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD has called on the Government to ensure that Twitter will fully comply with all provisions of Irish employment law after staff learned of significant job losses at its Dublin office today.
Deputy Murphy, who is the party’s spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, has written to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar seeking a full breakdown of any incentives offered to the social media company by the IDA since it set up in Ireland.
She said:
“While job losses were widely anticipated after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last week, the rapid pace and sheer scale of the cuts today is staggering.
“My immediate sympathy lies with the affected employees, who were effectively locked out of their workplace while they anxiously awaited receipt of emails to see if they still had jobs. Such callous treatment of Twitter’s loyal workforce does not bode well for the future direction of the company under its new ownership.
“The IDA’s success in attracting Twitter to Dublin over a decade ago was hailed at the time as a big win for Ireland. However, there needs to be some sort of social responsibility attached when international tech companies avail of our low corporation tax rates and IDA incentives to set up here.
“As well as seeking a full breakdown of any benefits offered to Twitter by the State, I will be asking the Tánaiste if he is satisfied that all employment obligations and communication protocols have been complied with by the company in announcing the job cuts.
“Those who have lost their jobs must receive adequate redundancy packages from Twitter and be fully supported in securing alternative employment.
“With job losses also confirmed at Stripe, it is now feared that other tech firms based in Ireland will follow suit. There needs to be proper oversight by the Government to ensure that Irish employment law and redundancy procedures are fully respected by these companies at every stage of the process.”
November 4, 2022