NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks accused a union representing thousands of its baristas of damaging the brand and endangering co-workers with a pro-Palestinian tweet.
The executive director of a prominent technology conference has resigned amid backlash over his public statements suggesting Israel was committing war crimes.
Company bosses vowed never to hire members of university student groups that condemn Israel.
Meanwhile, Islamic rights advocates say much of the corporate response has downplayed the suffering in Gaza, where thousands have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, and created an atmosphere of fear for workers who want to express their support for the Palestinians.
Jewish groups have criticized lukewarm or slow responses to the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre that killed 1,400 people in Israel and sparked the latest war.
The fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas has spread to workplaces around the world, as top leaders of prominent companies voice their opinions while workers complain that their voices are not heard.
People of all ranks have been criticized for speaking too strongly (or not strongly enough), making it nearly impossible to present a unifying message when passions run deep on all sides.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sits at a podium at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 19, 2023. The fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas has spread to workplaces around the world. world.AP
Many American corporations have strong ties to Israel, particularly among technology and financial companies that have operations and employees in the country.
Executives from JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs, Google and Meta were among dozens who quickly condemned the Hamas attacks and expressed solidarity with the Israeli people in public statements, social media posts or even corporate earnings calls.
Many pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and detailed efforts to safeguard employees in Israel.
Some CEOs expressed personal anguish.
In a LinkedIn post and letter to employees, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he has been constantly on the phone with friends and family in Israel and expressed horror at learning of “civilians of all ages attacked and murdered in cold blood, taken hostage and tortured.”
He implored employees to check on each other and said Pfizer launched a humanitarian aid campaign.
“It is not enough to condemn these actions; we ourselves must take action,” Bourla wrote.
Reactions against opposing views have been swift, including responses to a tweet by Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave suggesting Israel was committing war crimes.
Paddy Cosgrave, CEO and founder of Web Summit. The fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas has spread to workplaces around the world, as top leaders of prominent companies express their views and workers complain that their own voices are not heard.
“I will never attend, sponsor or speak at any of your events again,” former Facebook executive David Marcus said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Facing a growing boycott of next month’s Web Summit, a prominent European gathering of thousands of technology leaders, Cosgrave resigned on Saturday, saying his “personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and from our team, our sponsors, our new companies and the people who attend.”
His resignation came a few days after he posted a lengthy message denouncing Hamas attacks and apologizing for the timing of his initial tweet, while defending his general views on the conflict.
But companies continued to withdraw from the conference, including Google, Meta, German technology conglomerate Siemens and American chipmaker Intel.
Jonathan Neman, CEO of the Sweetgreen restaurant chain, was one of several company leaders who vowed never to hire Harvard students who belonged to groups that co-signed a statement blaming Israel for the violence.
The international law firm Winston & Strawn rescinded a job offer to a New York University student who wrote a message in the Student Bar Association newsletter saying that Israel was entirely to blame for the bloodshed.
Starbucks and the union that represents thousands of its baristas are suing each other over a pro-Palestinian tweet from the union. AP
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, denounced the backlash against the students and statements by American corporate leaders that “lack any meaningful show of sympathy toward Palestinian civilians.”
Those combined reactions, the organization said, are leaving “Palestinians and those who support Palestinian human rights isolated in their workplaces and fearful of possible consequences” for discussing how the conflict has affected them.
Isra Abuhasna, a Chicago-area data scientist, was one of several professionals who expressed similar thoughts on social media, saying in a LinkedIn post that she was “risking her entire career” by expressing her views on the conflict.
Rockets from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system maneuver to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Thursday, October 19, 2023.AP
Abuhasna, a Palestinian American who worked for a real estate firm and other businesses but recently took a break to stay home with her two young children, said she fears her posts will make it difficult to find a new position. But she said her parents raised her to be proud and express her opinion about the Palestinian cause.
“It’s my identity,” Abuhasna said. “What good is it in my job if I compromise my own morals and ethics?”
One of the biggest disputes broke out at Starbucks after Starbucks Workers United, a union representing 9,000 workers in more than 360 American stores, tweeted “Solidarity with Palestine” two days after the Hamas attack.
The tweet was deleted within 40 minutes, but the company said it sparked more than 1,000 complaints, vandalism and angry confrontations at its stores.
Starbucks sued to stop Starbucks Workers United from using its name and a similar logo. Workers United, the parent union of Starbucks Workers United, responded with its own lawsuit saying Starbucks defamed the union by implying that it supports terrorism. He wants to continue using the company name.
Starbucks Workers United tweeted a longer message on Friday denouncing Israel’s “occupation” and the “threats of genocide facing Palestinians” while also condemning anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Angela Berg, founder of the employment consulting firm Perelaks, said companies with strong views on the war should express them, but “the key thing is that they recognize the existence of the other side’s experience.” Those who try to stay away, Berg said, must explain their reasons to employees.
As the humanitarian catastrophe deepened in Gaza, more business leaders addressed the situation, including Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, who said the company was splitting a $3 million donation between emergency services Magen David Adom of Israel and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
But companies that have kept a low profile have received criticism.
Allison Grinberg-Funes, who is Jewish, wrote in a LinkedIn post that she was disappointed that her colleagues did not reach out immediately after the Hamas attacks.
While they eventually reached out, Grinberg-Funes said in an interview with The Associated Press that she remains disappointed that her employer, Liberty Mutual, did not publicly condemn the attacks.
The content designer at the Boston-based insurance company said the silence is part of a broader “lack of support” toward the Jewish community that she and her friends have observed in the workplace.
“We want to know that our lives matter as much as those of other employees who have been shown support,” said Grinberg-Funes, 33, who has family and friends in Israel.
Liberty Mutual did not respond to a request for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn