The business secretary, Grant Shapps, has written to Twitter to ensure it complies with UK law after the US company’s new owner, Elon Musk, announced that hundreds of its British employees would be made redundant from work.
Musk took control of the social media platform in late October and within days launched deep job cuts, with up to 3,700 layoffs worldwide.
In the UK, employers are required to launch a collective consultation if they plan to make more than 20 redundancies, as well as to consult individuals.
Hundreds of staff are thought to have been locked out of the company’s systems at Twitter’s UK operations, meaning it is very likely to meet the hurdle required for a consultation.
Shapps told the Prospect union in a letter on Thursday that he would be writing to Twitter to “seek reassurance that they will follow all relevant legal requirements”.
“I absolutely agree with you that no company is above the law,” Shapps wrote in response to concerns raised by Prospect, which represents several Twitter employees. “It must be a very worrying time for staff and their families,” he wrote. The business department later confirmed that a letter had been sent on Twitter.
The social media company is already facing legal action in the US over the speed with which Musk launched mass layoffs, locking workers out of company systems before being told they would lose their jobs. Unions have raised concerns about compliance with employment law in Ireland and the UK.
Musk, the world’s richest man due to his stake in electric car maker Tesla, is trying to change Twitter’s business model to boost subscriber revenue while also overhauling the way it operates, including on Thursday removing the option for all employees to work remotely.
He has also ousted many of his previous senior management team, including former chief executive Parag Agrawal. On Thursday, Twitter’s chief information security officer, Lea Kissner, revealed that they were also leaving the company.
I have made the difficult decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m very proud of the privacy, security and IT teams and the work we’ve done.
I can’t wait to find out what happens next, starting with my comments on @USENIXSecurity 😁
— Lea Kissner (@LeaKissner) November 10, 2022
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said he was concerned the Twitter situation could be “a digital P&O”.
P&O Ferries, owned by Dubai-based DP World, in March sacked 800 workers without consultation, sparking outrage. Another similar situation could prove politically difficult for Shapps, who backed down from a threat of legal action against P&O. The Conservative government has since acted to limit the power of unions to hold strikes, amid a wave of industrial action.
Clancy said: “What we’ve seen so far from Twitter is a redundancy decision, closed staff, then the ‘consultation’ announcement. This is an after-the-fact attempt to avoid litigation or mitigate compensation, following a US ruling that has fallen into UK employment law.
“The government must use all its powers to demonstrate that no one, especially big tech, is above the law. It’s time for unions to get stronger powers to stop these abuses and ensure that workers aren’t simply being fired.”
Employees at the company are understood to have concerns about whether they have been given enough time to appoint representatives, how meaningful consultation can take place when staff are locked out of computer systems and the process by which the company chose who to fire.
A spokesman for the Department for Business said: “We have been closely monitoring the situation at Twitter and we understand that this is a difficult time for everyone involved. While we recognize that tough decisions such as redundancies remain a commercial issue, it is important that employees are treated fairly and the correct process is followed. The business secretary has written to the managing director of Twitter UK to remind him of his obligations to the UK workforce.”
Twitter has been contacted for comment.
