You can’t avoid conflict all the time, and that’s what happened with the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. It has been reported that some employees of SpaceX were involved in disseminating false information and accusations against Elon Musk through an open letter making rounds in a company. Reportedly, the President and COO of the company, Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, stated that the employees involved in such an act are terminated from their positions in the company. The New York Times first broke the news of the termination. However, the company, at that time, refused to give any further comments.
On Thursday, Shotwell sent an email to the company regarding this matter and stated, “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.” “The letter has upset many within the company and made employees feel “uncomfortably intimidated and bullied.” She further argued that these kinds of “unsolicited emails” are unacceptable to the employees of the company.
According to The Verge, the letter was signed by more than 400 employees in just one and a half days. The letter focused on the company’s executives and narrated that the “billionaire’s public behavior is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for SpaceX employees.” However, Musk owns 78% of the voting shares of SpaceX and has a very noteworthy presence on Twitter, where he provides continuous updates to his followers about the future missions of Space X and Tesla. The company, however, fired five of its workers as a result of this act.
As per Business Insider, Musk has been accused of sexual misconduct with the SpaceX flight attendant, which went viral on social media a few days back. In the letter, it was written that Musk had “sexually harassed a SpaceX flight attendant during a private flight”. As stated by the report, the flight attendant has been given $250,000 to not reveal anything regarding the matter.
In response to these “not proven” allegations, Ms. Shotwell condemned this and denied all accusations against Musk. She supported the SpaceX executives and said that they are more inclined toward achieving their goals in a professional work environment. Furthermore, she stated that SpaceX is about to launch some exciting projects within 37 hours over the weekend.
This demonstrates that the company is entirely focused on a healthy work environment and, as per Shotwell, “I am sorry for this distraction. Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time at work to do your best work.”