Protestors gathered outside Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Saturday, hoping to shine a spotlight on Elon Musk’s labor practices since taking over as the company’s new CEO.
Protestors spoke with KCBS Radio’s David Welch about their criticisms of Musk. Steve Zeltzer, with the San Francisco group Laborfest, spoke with Welch about their protest, sharing that it is a protest in the conventional sense but also an art show.
“We wanted to do an unveiling of a portrait, a painting on Elon Musk on his rocket ship. We want to put him autopilot to Mars,” he said.
While protestors gathered with speeches and posters denouncing Musk and his practices at his companies, they also played music, showed art, and did more than usual.
Leading the protest alongside Zeltzer was fellow labor activist Andrew Kong Knight, a muralist who presented the painting of Musk on a rocket headed to Mars.
Even though the form in which they expressed their protest with Musk wasn’t typical, their message was still clear.
“We feel he’s attacking, violating labor laws, violating discrimination against these workers,” Zeltzer shared.
It has been over three months since Twitter was acquired by the once world’s richest man. Since he’s stepped in as the company’s CEO, there have been thousands of jobs cut in what Musk called a money-saving move.
“We think he should comply with the labor laws. He has a history of flagrantly flouting labor laws. He fired 700 Tesla workers who were trying to organize,” Zeltzer shared with CBS News. “There’s a cult of personality around Elon, and we want to burst the bubble about who he really is. His employees need protection. They need labor rights.”
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