Eight former SpaceX workers have filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board saying they were illegally fired for criticizing Elon Musk's Twitter behavior.

Employees wrote an open letter in June calling on SpaceX to condemn Musk's "harmful twitter behavior." Musk had tweeted a denial to a news report about a sexual harassment allegation against him. A private jet flight attendant alleged that during a massage Musk exposed himself and touched the attendant's thigh without her consent before offering her a horse in exchange for sex. SpaceX paid $250,000 in severance to the attendant.

"Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks," the letter first obtained by the Verge, stated.

SpaceX employees have cited a work culture that allows sexual harassment and sexism to continue.

"To be clear: recent events are not isolated incidents," employees wrote. "They are emblematic of a wider culture that underserves many of the people who enable SpaceX's extraordinary accomplishments."

The letter asked SpaceX to "publicly address and condemn Elon's harmful Twitter behavior."

A day after the letter was circulated, SpaceX gathered 20 engineers to discuss the founder and CEO. According to two SpaceX employees, the meeting quickly became heated. Jon Edwards, the Vice President of Falcon Launch Vehicles at SpaceX reportedly called the letter an "extremist act" and announced the termination of five employees involved in writing it, according to the New York Times.

Two employees reported that Edwards declared, "SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX."

According to employees, the letter led to the termination of nine workers.

SpaceX was founded by Musk in 2002 and is based in Hawthorne, Calif. The company has 11,000 employees and is making attempts to bring humans to Mars to habitat the planet.

Musk, who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX, has come under criticism recently for a litany of reasons.

After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion last month, Musk laid off thousands of employees, many of whom claim they were not given adequate notice which is required under California law. The billionaire has also been accused of firing Twitter employees for making insubordinate comments about Musk.

In March 2021, the NLRB upheld a decision that found Tesla engaged in unfair labor practices for a tweet discouraging unionization and for firing a worker for attempting to unionize.

Tom Moline, an 8-year veteran SpaceX engineer who helped draft the letter, commented on the recent firings.

"It was hard for me to believe what was happening it was so brazen," said Moline following his termination. "It feels like one of those times employees have protections."

In June, about 20 engineers were invited to a meeting hosted at the headquarters of SpaceX.

The rocket manufacturer has been accused of retaliating against employees over a letter which criticized CEO Elon Musk. Eight former employees on Wednesday in response to the firings.

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