Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday who’d participated in a sit-in protest at the company’s New York and California offices.
“A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a few of our locations,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.
“Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” the spokesperson added.
“We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed,” the spokesperson continued.
See scenes from the protest below:
BREAKING—DOZENS OF @GOOGLE WORKERS LEAD HISTORIC COAST TO COAST-INS AT @GOOGLECLOUD CEO THOMAS KURIAN’S OFFICE IN SUNNYVALE & @GOOGLE’s NYC 10TH FLOOR COMMONS. They refuse to leave until @google stops powering the genocide in Gaza
LIVESTREAM: https://t.co/uUiPbr3oDz pic.twitter.com/vCkInh0769
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16, 2024
@GOOGLE WORKER COAST TO COAST SIT IN UPDATE HOUR 3— Workers remain steadfast in their commitment to remain inside @googlecloud CEO thomas kurian’s office and google HQ NYC until they drop Project Nimbus or are arrested
SUPPORT WORKERS: https://t.co/7pKYAvy6Rm pic.twitter.com/7rb1kgi0hk
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16, 2024
The protests were reportedly held in response to Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract for Google and Amazon to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government and military.
In a statement to TechCrunch, former Google software engineer Hasan Ibraheem said he participated in the protest because Google is “directly implicated in the genocide of the Palestinian people” as per Project Nimbus.
“It’s my responsibility to do everything I can to end this contract even while Google pretends nothing is wrong,” he said. “The idea of working for a company that directly provides infrastructure for genocide makes me sick. We’ve tried sending petitions to leadership but they’ve gone ignored. We will make sure they can’t ignore us anymore.”
“We will make as much noise as possible. So many workers don’t know that Google has this contract with the IOF [Israel Offensive Forces]. So many don’t know that their colleagues have been facing harassment for being Muslim, Palestinian and Arab and speaking out. So many people don’t realize how complicit their own company is. It’s our job to make sure they do,” he added.
Ibraheem, as well as the other protesters, are all members of No Tech For Apartheid, a leftist group that’s been critical of Google’s response to the war in Gaza.
NOW: Protesters with ‘No Tech for Apartheid’ are demonstrating outside Google’s office in Chelsea, calling on Google to drop Project Nimbus, a cloud computing project launched by the Israeli government and military pic.twitter.com/QmI7P5AZ56
— katie smith (@probablyreadit) April 16, 2024
During the protest, nine Google employees were arrested and reportedly forcibly removed from the offices after demanding to speak with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
Afterward, the nine penned a joint statement panning their arrests.
“Last night, Google made the decision to arrest us, the company’s own workers — instead of engaging with our concerns about Project Nimbus, the company’s $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with Israel,” the statement reads.
“Throughout the past three years, since the contract’s signing, we have repeatedly attempted to engage with Google executives about Project Nimbus through company channels, including town halls, forums, petitions signed by over a thousand workers, and direct outreach from concerned workers,” it continues.
The employees added that Google execs have “ignored” their concerns for years and instead been “repressing speech” to keep dissenters — particularly “Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim” dissenters — quiet.
“Workers have the right to know how their labor is being used, and to have a say in ensuring the technology they build is not used for harm,” they said. “Workers also have the right to go to work without fear, anxiety, and stress due to the potential that their labor is being used to power a genocide.”
“Google is depriving us of these basic rights, which is what led us to sit-in at offices across the country yesterday. Meanwhile, Google continues to lie to its workers, the media, and the public,” they added.
The public, on the other hand, was far less sympathetic to the protesters.
Look:
I see a bunch of people that just volunteered for the next round of layoffs
— Thorton Melon (@tallnfat) April 17, 2024
silly kids. What Tech company is going to hire disruptive brats? You will have to move back in with mommy and daddy.
— Simon Peter (@Mark129988) April 18, 2024
They’re wearing masks. Are you kidding me??? Guess they’re not all that proud of their protest. You can’t tell me they’re worried about covid.
— Carissa Pavlica (@CarissaPavlica) April 16, 2024
What a brave and heroic act by these Google employees! Storming into their own offices to protest a contract that their company willingly entered into. And let’s not forget the virtue signaling of wearing traditional Arab headscarves, because that totally makes up for the…
— Joe (@JoeMaristela) April 17, 2024
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Author: Vivek Saxena
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