San Francisco: Google fired approximately 20 additional workers who took part in protests against the company's cloud computing agreement with the Israeli government. This brings the total number of employees dismissed over this matter in the past week to over 50, as reported by the activist group representing the workers.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the company fired more employees as part of its ongoing investigation into the April 16 protests. These protests involved sit-ins at Google's offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California.
The terminations occurred several days after CEO Sundar Pichai advised employees in a companywide memo against using the company for personal agendas or engaging in debates over disruptive issues or politics.
Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid, a group protesting Google's and Amazon's contracts with the Israeli government since 2021, stated, "The corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers, and reassert its power over them."
The protests at Google are part of a broader movement against the collaboration between the U.S. government, corporations, and the Israeli government and military. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been arrested recently at Yale and Columbia universities, leading to criticism of university officials for being overly aggressive and prompting more protests at colleges nationwide. Just before the Google sit-ins, activists blocked highways, bridges, and airport entrances across the United States to protest the conflict in Gaza.
There is currently a public debate at Google between the managers of the corporation and the fired employees. The workers dispute Google's assertions that every sacked employee purposefully disrupted its offices, claiming that some of the fired employees didn't even show up for work on the day of the planned demonstrations against the business.
Although Google has let go of workers in the past for openly criticising the firm, this many people have never been let go at once. For many years, Google was regarded as the biggest tech company that was the most transparent and free-thinking, with a work environment where staff members were encouraged to question management choices and were aware of one other's projects.
He stated in the memo, which the business made public on its website, "We have a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action." "But in the end, this is a business, and our rules and expectations are clear. We are a workplace."
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