- SpaceX’s COO advised workers to “focus in your job” after they raised office considerations in 2022.
- The COO’s response adopted an open letter that accused the corporate of dismissing worker considerations.
- A Reuters investigation discovered that Elon Musk’s firm has had at the least 600 employee accidents since 2014.
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell advised workers in a 2022 electronic mail to “focus in your job and the mission of SpaceX — to get humanity to Mars as rapidly as potential,” after they raised office complaints in an open letter, Reuters reported.
Shotwell’s electronic mail was in response to an open letter written by SpaceX workers that criticized the corporate’s dismissive angle towards worker considerations and inconsistent enforcement of self-discipline insurance policies, per the report.
9 workers had been fired for elevating complaints within the letter — and eight of these have since filed unfair labor apply complaints with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board.
One main space of concern for workers on the firm is the corporate’s security procedures.
The Reuters investigation discovered that at the least 600 SpaceX employees had been injured since 2014 at its amenities throughout the US, noting that previous to 2021 and 2022, the workplaces typically didn’t submit the required information.
The findings confirmed that SpaceX’s common harm charges at three of the amenities far outpaced that of the broader area business, which stood at 0.8 accidents per 100 employees in 2022, per the report. The Brownsville, Texas, website had a median harm fee of 4.8 accidents per 100 employees in 2022, Hawthorne, California, was at 1.8, and McGregor, Texas, was at 2.7.
In line with the report, among the many accidents had been 9 employees who suffered head accidents, together with one traumatic mind harm, and 17 who had their arms or fingers “crushed.”
Different points on the SpaceX amenities had been additionally detailed by present and former employees, together with one former welder on the Brownsville website who advised Reuters that employees took the stimulant Adderall with out prescriptions and that some would sleep in bogs on the website.
Others stated that workers who had been tasked with welding rockets in tents labored in excessive temperatures of as much as 100 levels Fahrenheit and got IV therapies to proceed working in the event that they suffered from the warmth.
Musk’s seemingly relaxed angle to security was additionally obvious in his visits to the amenities, with 4 workers telling Reuters that Musk would typically play with a novelty flamethrower that may shoot a flame over 5 ft and that he most well-liked employees to not put on security yellow resulting from his dislike of brilliant colours.
SpaceX’s mission “to go to Mars as quick as potential and save humanity permeates each a part of the corporate,” Tom Moline, a former SpaceX engineer who was fired after he made office complaints, advised Reuters.
“The corporate justifies casting apart something that might stand in the best way of conducting that aim, together with employee security,” he stated.
SpaceX didn’t reply to a request for remark from Insider, which was made exterior of standard working hours.
