The Crossbill Team
Google Inc has laid off 28 workers who were envloved in protest against the company’s deal to provide artificial intelligence and cloud services to Israeli government. The 28 sacked employees staged sit-in demonstration at Google’s office against a $1.2 billion deal named Project Nimbus, Bloomberg reported.
The demonstrations jointly called 'No Tech for Apartheid', were held at the Tech giant offices in New York City, Seattle, Sunnyvale and California on Tuesday (April 16). The protests in New York and California went about for 10 hours and were livestreamed on social media. Reportedly 9 people involved in the protest were arrested on charges of trespassing.
Soon after, notices were sent from Google's employee relations group to the workers and also to those who support the movement but did not directly participate in the sit-in. All the protesting employees were ordered to go on leave. By Wednesday evening, these workers learned that they have been retrenched by the company.
According to Bloomberg, in an internal statement, Google told employees, “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior.”
Google said in a statement about the protesters. “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety. 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.”
A worker who took part in the protest and was fired told Bloomberg that despite the layoffs of Google workers, the movement is gradually spreading. Despite Google’s response, employees demonstrating against Project Nimbus have seen an uptick in support since the sit-in.
The demonstrations jointly called 'No Tech for Apartheid', were held at the Tech giant offices in New York City, Seattle, Sunnyvale and California on Tuesday (April 16). The protests in New York and California went about for 10 hours and were livestreamed on social media. Reportedly 9 people involved in the protest were arrested on charges of trespassing.
Soon after, notices were sent from Google's employee relations group to the workers and also to those who support the movement but did not directly participate in the sit-in. All the protesting employees were ordered to go on leave. By Wednesday evening, these workers learned that they have been retrenched by the company.
BREAKING -- Google fires 28 workers in indiscriminate act of mass retaliationhttps://t.co/R8JwpufBTp pic.twitter.com/FZdaySmti1
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 18, 2024
According to Bloomberg, in an internal statement, Google told employees, “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior.”
Google said in a statement about the protesters. “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety. 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.”
A worker who took part in the protest and was fired told Bloomberg that despite the layoffs of Google workers, the movement is gradually spreading. Despite Google’s response, employees demonstrating against Project Nimbus have seen an uptick in support since the sit-in.
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