In mid-November, Musk instated an “ extremely hardcore” work culture at Twitter, demanding 80-hour work weeks and prompting a wave of resignations. or later, when other staff left one janitor told the BBC that after Musk bought the company, private security escorted him as he cleaned sections of the office. Ever since Musk ordered Twitter employees back into the office full-time and imposed longer hours, he adds, janitors were unable to enter the offices to clean until 1: 30 a.m. Everything,” says Linares Salazar of the change in ownership. Then came Musk’s chaotic takeover of the company. Twitter’s janitorial staff tell In These Times that they were required to risk their health by coming in during the first years of the pandemic. “Twitter was my second home,” he says.Ĭustodial staff are often on the front lines of workplace crises. Bilal, an immigrant from Yemen, is the sole earner in his household, which includes his wife, three kids and both his parents. “I’m extremely shocked,” says Bilal, a lead janitor who worked at Twitter for ten years (and requested only his first name be used for fear of further retaliation if workers win their jobs back). “We all have families we have to support,” he says.ĭespite the earlier rounds of layoffs at the company, custodial workers told In These Times that they were caught off guard when Twitter laid them off because many have worked for the company for years and have no other work to fall back on. Victor Linares Salazar, a Salvadoran worker who has cleaned machines and kitchen utilities in the Twitter office for almost ten years, is the sole earner for his wife and 4-year-old daughter. The workers who spoke with In These Times all have families that depend solely on income from their work at Twitter. They’ve been protesting outside the building ever since.Īccording to Olga Miranda, SEIU Local 87’s president, many of the janitors who lost their jobs are immigrants from countries including Yemen, China, Mexico and El Salvador. The same day, Twitter terminated the janitors’ contract outright instead of waiting for it to expire four days later, immediately putting all janitors out of work.

On December 5, janitors began an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike to protest the decision. The workers who spoke with In These Times say the 20 janitors were given a week’s warning that they would be terminated once their contractor’s deal with Twitter ended on December 9, a move which in effect also permanently fired nearly 30 other custodial workers furloughed without pay earlier this year with promises of being rehired once the office reopened. Twitter’s laid-off janitorial staff are members of SEIU Local 87, the custodians union which represents 5, 000 janitors in the Bay Area. Unlike the earlier layoffs, Musk’s most recent firings target unionized workers protected under a collective bargaining agreement. Former Twitter staff were unresponsive when asked for information on current press contacts. Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters phone number and support number were no longer active.

In the absence of a communications department at Twitter, In These Times sent a request for comment to which did not respond. The move comes less than two months after Musk, who bought Twitter on October 27, fired several senior executives and later roughly 3, 700 employees ranging from engineers to communications workers to content moderators- half the company’s staff-on November 4. In These Times spoke to four janitors who say that all 20 custodial workers at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters lost their jobs on December 5 because Twitter’s new custodial contractor refused to rehire them. But Musk’s acquisition also has dire, albeit underreported, consequences for the service staff who keep the blue bird humming. Billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has captured headlines for its tumultuous effect on the company’s corporate staff and the risks it poses to the platform’s future survival.

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