Companies Face Pressure From Anti-Trump Employees
Employees of several companies, whose executives showed support to President Donald Trump, have threatened to quit, according to Bloomberg. Trump had received backing from top executives of IBM, Oracle and Uber, among others.
The Wednesday report from Bloomberg stated that IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty’s move to congratulate Trump for his presidential victory resulted in a petition from employees asking to "respect our right to refuse to participate in any government contracts that violate constitutional and civil liberties." The petition got over 1,600 signatures.
Elizabeth Wood, a digital strategist with IBM, wrote an open letter last November saying that she has resigned from the company due to Rometty's support to Trump.
“[Trump] has demonstrated contempt for immigrants, veterans, people with disabilities, Black, Latinx, Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ communities. These groups comprise a growing portion of the company you lead, Ms. Rometty. They work every day for IBM’s success and have been silenced by your words,” Wood wrote.
Since Trump assumed office, executives at companies including Facebook and Uber have come under fire from their employees, Bloomberg noted.
After Oracle Co-Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz joined Trump’s transition team, a senior executive of cloud operations stepped down. George Polisner, who had been working with the company since 1993, posted his resignation on LinkedIn and stated concerns over Trump’s choice of cabinet, tax and environmental policies and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear among minorities.
Uber’s Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s White House advisory council after facing backlash from employees.
Apart from this, some job candidates canceled their interviews at companies because of the conflicting political views. According to Bloomberg, a 39-year-old lawyer canceled an interview at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius law firm after knowing the firm handled Trump’s ethics and conflicts-of-interest compliance and that it had won a “Russia Law Firm of the Year” award.
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