More than 20 people have signed an essay that describes Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin as a "toxic" workplace.
The essay was published Thursday on Lioness.co, and according to Alexandra Abrams, a former head of employee communications at Blue Origin, the company pushes employees to sign harsh nondisclosure agreements that infringe on rights, doesn't listen to internal feedback, disregards safety concerns despite numerous warnings and creates an uncomfortable sexist environment for women.
Abrams appeared on CBS Mornings to discuss the essay and said that 13 of 21 signees are engineers and that in 2018 a team of employees documented "more than 1,000 problem reports related to the engines that power Blue Origin's rockets, which had never been addressed." Additionally, CBS spoke to 5 of the co-authors of the essay that decided to remain anonymous out of fear of job security. According to CBS, these authors said that the private space race impacted safety concerns.
Abrams goes on to say that Blue Origin was taking the private space race slow and steady, but then Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos became impatient as he watched SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson push ahead. Abrams even went as far as to say that the competition of the space race between the billionaires took precedence over safety at Blue Origin.
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