Google fired at least 20 other workers who participated in last week's protests against the tech giant's headquarters in New York, California and Seattle over a multimillion-dollar $1.2 billion contract the company signed with the Israeli government and military. With the new layoffs, the total number of laid-off workers rises to 50.
The information was confirmed by No Tech for Apartheid, the organizer of the protests against Google. The organization explained that Google allegedly laid off 20 more workers, in addition to the 30 workers laid off last week.
"This evening, in an aggressive and desperate act of retaliation, Google fired over 20 additional workers — including non-participating bystanders during last week’s protests. These indiscriminate mass firings come after Google already fired 30 workers for their supposed involvement in last week’s historic, coast-to-coast sit-in at Google offices," No Tech for Apartheid detailed.
Statement from Google workers with the #NoTechForApartheid campaign on Google's continued mass retaliation against workers
Last night @Google @sundarpichai @ThomasOrTK fired 20 more workers, bringing the number of workers fired since last Tues to ***50***https://t.co/27sc7cgTuT
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 23, 2024
"We will not turn back"
In that sense, the progressive organization threatened the company and said that they should not be underestimated for being a small group of workers. "We will not stop fighting, and we will not back down. We will not stop demanding protection for our Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim colleagues," the organization assured.
Meanwhile, the New York Post exclusively obtained an internal memo where the company explained the reasons for the dismissal, stating that the employees involved in the protest violated Google's internal rules, causing their co-workers to feel threatened.
"You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. Unfortunately, a number of employees brought the event into our buildings in New York and Sunnyvale," begins the memo written by Google's vice president of global security, Chris Rackow.
Similar was the message from Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, who highlighted that although the company is a place of debate, it is also a workspace in which employees should feel safe:
We are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics. This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted.
