A number of Google employees have had their contracts terminated after arranging a protest against a company contract with Israel.
Politics in the Workplace?
If you’re thinking of bringing your political beliefs into the workplace, a recent move by Google might make you reconsider.
28 Employees Fired
This week, Google fired more than two dozen employees who participated in a sit-in protest at their offices on Thursday.
Protest Against Israel Contract
The actions of the employees were part of a wider protest against Google’s $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.
These protests were held in two separate Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.
Office Protests
After launching an internal investigation, the tech giant confirmed that 28 employees had occupied office workplaces and held sit-in protests for up to 8 hours.
One of these locations included the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
No Tech for Apartheid
The pro-Palestine tech activist group No Tech For Apartheid (NTFA) confirmed the sit-in protest on social media.
Protest Slogans
During the protest, employees help up signs and posters reading “No cloud apartheid,” “Googlers against genocide,” and more.
Confirmation from Google
Google confirmed the protest and termination of the 28 employees in a public statement, where a spokesperson described their actions as “unacceptable” and “a violation.”
A Range of Behaviours
“A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a few of our locations. Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” the statement read.
Internal Investigations Launched
“We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and we will continue to investigate and take action as needed,” the statement concluded.
Law Enforcement Called
The statement also confirmed that law enforcement eventually had to be called to remove the protestors after they refused “multiple requests to leave the premises.”
Project Nimbus
Protestors banded together to speak out against Project Nimbus, a contract that Google and Amazon share with the Israeli government.
The contract provides the country’s military with cloud and artificial intelligence services.
A Timely Demonstration
The sit-in office demonstrations were carried out the day before Israel began its five-year plan to transition to the Project Nimbus cloud.
Government, Military, and Defense Ministry
The Defense Ministry and military are also partnered with Project Nimbus, but Google has publicly defended the contract by claiming it is “not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”
Condemnation via Email
If the immediate termination of 28 employees wasn’t enough, the company’s vice president for global security, Chris Rackow, sent out a company-wide email on Wednesday condemning the group’s actions.
Claims of Disruptive and Threatening Behaviour
In the email, Rackow accused the protesting employees of defacing property, taking over office spaces, and exhibiting behavior that was “unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
“We Will Not Tolerate It”
“Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” Rackow told employees.
“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.”
NTFA Refute the Claims
NTFA representatives took to social media to confirm the firings and refute some of Google’s claims.
A Contradictory Story
The organization asserted that many of the terminated employees did not actually participate in the sit-ins, nor did they deface company property or impede their coworkers from carrying out work tasks.
“Untrue and Insulting”
“This is not just untrue, it’s insulting. Thousands of our colleagues have joined our call for the company to drop Project Nimbus, supporting the dozens of brave workers who have spoken out publicly about how the contract is impacting their health and safety on the job,” they stated in a social media post.
More Resignations in Protest
Even prior to these recent demonstrations and firings, several high-ranking Google employees have recently resigned over the company’s involvement with Project Nimbus.
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