Laid-off workers at Twitter’s Africa headquarters are accusing Twitter of “intentionally and recklessly flouting the legal guidelines of Ghana” and attempting to “silence and intimidate” them after they had been fired.
The crew has employed a lawyer and despatched a letter to the corporate demanding it adjust to the West African nation’s labor legal guidelines, present them with extra severance pay and different related advantages, consistent with what different Twitter workers will obtain.
They’ve additionally petitioned the Ghanaian authorities to compel Twitter to “adhere to the legal guidelines of Ghana on redundancy and supply the workers a good and simply negotiation and redundancy pay,” in accordance with a letter to the nation’s Chief Labour Officer obtained by CNN.
“It’s clear that Twitter, Inc. beneath Mr Elon Musk is both intentionally or recklessly flouting the legal guidelines of Ghana, is working in dangerous religion and in a fashion that seeks to silence and intimidate former workers into accepting any phrases unilaterally thrown at them,” the letter states.
Twitter laid off all however one of many African workers simply 4 days after the corporate opened a bodily workplace within the capital Accra following Musk’s takeover. However the employees of a couple of dozen weren’t supplied severance pay, which they are saying is required by Ghana’s labor legal guidelines, based mostly on their employment contracts. Additionally they declare they weren’t knowledgeable in regards to the subsequent steps — in contrast to workers in the USA and Europe — till a day after CNN reported on their scenario.
CNN contacted Twitter for remark however obtained no response.
Within the letter to Twitter Ghana Ltd, obtained by CNN, the African workers rejected a “Ghana Mutual Separation Settlement” from Twitter, which they are saying was despatched to their private emails providing last pay that the corporate claims to have been arrived at after a negotiation.
A number of members of the crew and their lawyer instructed CNN that there was no such negotiation on severance pay. They declare it was under what’s required by legislation and contradicts what Musk tweeted that departing workers would obtain.
“Everybody exited was supplied 3 months of severance, which is 50% greater than legally required,” Musk tweeted. Twitter knowledgeable the Ghana-based workers in early November that they’d be paid till their final day of employment — December 4. And they’ll proceed to obtain full pay and advantages throughout the 30-day discover interval.
“It was very obscure, didn’t speak about excellent depart or paid break day, and simply requested us to signal if we agree. I by no means bothered to return to the doc as a result of it’s garbage and remains to be in violation of labor legal guidelines right here,” one former worker instructed CNN on situation of anonymity.
The Accra-based crew accuses Twitter of coping with them in dangerous religion, not being clear, and discriminating in opposition to them in comparison with laid-off workers in different jurisdictions.
“The staff are distressed, humiliated, and intimidated by this flip of occasions. There are non-Ghanaian workers, some with younger households, who moved right here to take up jobs and have now been left unceremoniously within the lurch, with no provision for repatriation bills and no solution to talk with Twitter, Inc. and talk about or plead their case,” the discover to Ghana’s Chief Labour Officer says.
Their lawyer, Carla Olympio, says the sudden termination of just about the entire crew violated Ghanaian employment legislation as a result of it’s thought-about a “redundancy” which requires three-month discover to authorities and a negotiation on redundancy pay.
“In stark distinction to inside firm assurances given to Twitter workers worldwide previous to the takeover, evidently little try was made to adjust to Ghana’s labor legal guidelines, and the protections enshrined therein for employees in circumstances the place corporations are endeavor mass layoffs because of a restructuring or reorganization,” she wrote in a press release to CNN.
The staff mentioned of their attraction to Ghana’s Chief Labour Officer that Twitter’s formal entry into the continent began with “nice fanfare and with the assist of the federal government,” they usually anticipate related consideration to their plight now.
They’re demanding 3 months’ gross wage as severance pay, repatriation bills for non-Ghanaian employees, vesting of inventory choices supplied of their contracts, and different advantages comparable to healthcare continuation that had been supplied to employees worldwide.
CNN has reached out to Ghana’s Employment and Labor Relations ministry for remark.
