Government in dark over details of Twitter job losses, says Minister

Twitter has not given the Government details of the precise number of its employees who will lose their jobs in Ireland as the company moves to trim its global workforce, Damien English has said.

However, speaking on RTÉ's News at One on Tuesday, the Minister of State for Local Enterprise said that IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland were working “to minimise those job losses” and to find new jobs for affected workers.

Social media giant Twitter on Friday began a process of culling its 7,500 workforce globally, with more than half of its 500 workers in Dublin expected to be axed. The company, which was acquired last week by Elon Musk for $44 billion, sent communications to the personal emails of staff at threat of being made redundant.

[ Twitter tries to reassure advertisers amid concerns over direction its new owner will take ]

The notice stated that “does not mean that we have made any final decisions in relation to this process or your role”, adding that they would have the opportunity to “express their views” via “employee representatives” who would be elected by staff shortly.

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The communication to staff in Dublin who are at risk of redundancy, seen by The Irish Times, said they would receive statutory redundancy, plus an “ex gratia payment of an additional month’s salary”, plus two weeks’ salary per completed year of service.

Questions have been raised about the legality of the process after it emerged the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar had not been told of any decision to begin laying off Irish staff, which is a legal requirement for collective redundancies in Ireland.

Asked whether Twitter had potentially broken Irish employment law, Mr English said “not necessarily”.

“Those processes kick in about 30 days before dismissal would happen or redundancy would happen, so there is still time for [Twitter] to follow [its] obligations,” the Fine Gael TD for Meath West said.

[ Twitter to enter 30-day consultation period with Irish staff affected by lay-offs ]

“I would expect them to do so. There is a process for collective redundancies for which we expect collective engagement. Engaging with us and directly with the individuals employed and their representatives as well.”

In an email to staff the social media network said it would notify the Minister and enter into a 30-day consultation period with affected employees. Twitter also said it would continue to pay staff for the duration of the consultation period, but staff would have to stay out of the office.

However, Mr English said Twitter has not engaged with the Government yet. “We’ve got very strong protections here for employees under Irish employment law. It differs from other countries, and we expect that to be followed in detail in the weeks and months ahead. I’ve no reason to believe that won’t happen.”

Meanwhile a full debate on job losses in the tech sector will take place in the Dáil, the Minister Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath has said.

Mr McGrath said it was “absolutely a matter of concern” when anyone loses their job, “particularly the manner in which it was done in the case of Twitter”.