That's not a fair assessment at all. Not at face value, and especially not with deeper scrutiny.

It's not about him. It's about the employees. If the employees have reasonable and actionable grievances and demands, Linus does not get to preempt any of it by making it about his personal failings.

It's also a negative public statement made by the owner of the company. No matter how cautiously worded or carefully framed, he's still ultimately putting out there that there is consequence to his employees unionizing. Even if it's nothing more than hurting his feelings, that's still manipulative.