Congresswoman Barbara Lee recently penned an open letter addressing the alarmingly high rates of layoffs of Black Americans in tech.
Written to Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Congresswoman Lee‘s letter, created in collaboration with Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II as well as the co-chairs of CBC Future of Work Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester and Lauren Underwood, highlighted the widespread layoffs in 2023 specifically.
According to the letter, over 240,000 workers in tech have been laid off in the past year, marking a 50% increase in firings from 2022.
Off these layoffs, a disproportionate amount has been Black tech workers who have been let go amid slow-growing periods and economic turmoil within the company. In her letter, Congresswoman Lee also expressed her concerns about the budget cuts of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion roles created by tech companies to combat discrimination.
As Co-Chairs of #CBCTech, @repcleaver and I are concerned by reports highlighting the impacts of widespread layoffs in tech—especially on the Black community.
— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) December 21, 2023
Read how we’re holding the tech industry accountable.????????https://t.co/aBLRn5HKCB
“We are deeply concerned about the short and long-term impact these layoffs will have on the industry’s racial, ethnic, and gender diversity and would like to ensure women and members of the African American community are not disproportionately nor discriminatorily harmed by recent layoffs,” said the members in their letter. “Diversity of thought and representation plays an essential role in innovation, employee satisfaction, and productivity in companies nationwide.”
The letter from Congresswoman Lee comes months after former employees at Twitter Africa sued Elon Musk after being laid off.
Earlier this year, the employees in Ghana were let go as part of a cost-cutting initiative by the tech company. In their lawsuit filed in July, they alleged that, although they accepted severance pay that offered to pay them for three months, they weren’t given any money. More than seven months after they were let go, the employees still didn’t receive any pay.
When they agreed to the severance pay, the employees in Africa weren’t given any benefits and were offered less pay than what others received in other locations. According to CNN, Twitter’s headquarters didn’t open negotiations until CNN first reported in November that separation terms in Africa differed from where there were majority-white employees.
“Unfortunately, it appears that after having unethically implemented their terminations in violation of their own promises and Ghana’s laws, dragging the negotiation process out for over half a year, now that we have come to the point of almost settlement, there has been complete silence from them for several weeks,” said the attorney for the employees, Carla Olympio, per CNN.
As of November 2023, the issue is still ongoing.
