Googled fired 28 employees after they occupied an executive’s office in California.
Other employees also protested Google’s New York building, demanding the company end business relations with Israel.
“They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow wrote in the memo. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
“Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” Rackow added. “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.”
“We are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace. The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again,” he continued. “The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior – up to and including termination.”
UPDATE: Google fired 28 of the protesting employees, according to a company wide memo by Google VP of global security Chris Rackow.
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 18, 2024
“If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.” https://t.co/6FhPmK214J pic.twitter.com/zjP25LzWnn
The organization that helped lead the protests, No Tech for Apartheid, said in a statement shared on social media that “Google just fired over two dozen workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests. This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers.”
Nimbus, the contract being protested, provides cloud and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government.
“The truth is clear: Google is terrified of workers coming together and calling for accountability and transparency from our bosses,” the group added. “They are choosing to reveal the falsity of Google’s ‘open culture’ in order to get rid of a threat. The corporation is trying to downplay and discredit our power. These mass, illegal firings will not stop us. On the contrary, they only serve as further fuel for the growth of this movement.”
A Google spokesperson told FOX Business, “Google Cloud supports numerous governments around the world in countries where we operate, including the Israeli government, with our generally available cloud computing services,” adding that the “Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”
