Elon Musk’s SpaceX illegally fired workers who criticised him, NLRB alleges

In June 2022, a group of employees circulated an open letter though internal SpaceX communication channels criticising Musk’s online behaviour and calling on the company to denounce and distance itself from his public comments. — AFP

SpaceX was accused by the US labour board of illegally firing eight employees over an internal letter sharply critical of chief executive officer Elon Musk.

A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against SpaceX Wednesday (Jan 3), alleging that the company illegally interrogated, surveilled and retaliated against workers, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said in an email. The fired workers include authors of a 2022 open letter protesting "inappropriate, disparaging, sexually charged comments on Twitter” by Musk, their attorneys wrote when they brought the case in 2022.