Google fires workers following office sit-in and protest
On April 16, a group of Google employees staged a protest in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in California, advocating for an end to the company’s collaborations with the Israeli government and military. These employees were subsequently dismissed on Wednesday, as detailed in a memo from Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of worldwide security, as reported by the New York Post.
In the memo, Rackow stated, “They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers. Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
Arrests and terminations in Google’s ‘No Tech For Apartheid’ protest
The “No Tech for Apartheid” campaign saw employees remain in the office to protest, demanding that Alphabet Inc. stop what they described as “powering Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.” It remains unclear if all nine arrested employees were fired, though they had been previously placed on administrative leave and had their access to internal systems restricted.
Rackow announced, “Following an investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”
He further emphasized, “Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns.”
Five Google employees were arrested for trespassing after they refused to leave during a protest and were subsequently released, a spokesperson stated on Tuesday. The protest targeted Google’s role in “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion initiative providing cloud services to the Israeli government and military.
Also Read, Indonesians Evacuate as Nearby Volcano Eruption Forces Airport Closure Due to Ash Threat
Chinese and Indonesian Foreign Ministers Call for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza
Bookmark and Follow us for more News
