28 Google employees fired after Sunnyvale, NY protests
(KRON) — Google announced Tuesday that 28 employees were let go due to ceasefire protests that happened Tuesday at company facilities, Google confirmed to KRON4. The 10-hour sit-ins took place at offices in Sunnyvale and New York.
According to Google, the protests were largely put on by people who do not work for Google, but some employees joined in. Google called the actions “a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” as some employees’ work was disrupted.
Google did not specify how many of the 28 employees worked in the Bay Area.
Google layoffs to impact unspecified number of employees, according to reports
The protest was organized by the “No Tech for Apartheid” campaign, which claims that Google and Amazon are leading “the world’s first AI powered genocide” by allowing Israel to access its technology, organizers said.
“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—the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders,” No Tech for Apartheid said.
About 80 people participated in the protest, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said. The Washington Post reported that protesters went inside the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
Sunnyvale DPS arrived at the offices at 10:30 a.m. to monitor the situation. Police said that by 12:45 p.m. all but five protesters had left. Just before 6:30 p.m., police entered the building to arrest the five remaining protesters.
The protest was part of a string of protests that happened across the Bay Area this week. Thirty-eight people were arrested on Monday for blocking off the Golden Gate Bridge and highways in Oakland.
The terminations are in addition to another round of layoffs that Google is planning to do, according to multiple reports.
Read Google’s full statement on the protests and related layoffs below:
“These protests were part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work at Google. 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. 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.”
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