Search engine giant Google has fired nearly 30 of its US employees after they were arrested for staging sits-ins at the company’s offices to protest its contract with the Israeli government.
The pro-Palestinian employees - who were seen wearing traditional Arab headscarves- were taken in by officials from both the organization's New York City and California offices.
Soon after an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow announced the termination of 28 employees in a companywide memo.
The memo reportedly read: 'They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers.
'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.
'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'.
Search engine giant Google has fired nearly 30 of its US employees after they were arrested for staging sits-ins at the company’s offices to protest its contract with the Israeli government
The pro-Palestinian employees - who were seen wearing traditional Arab headscarves- were taken in by officials from both the organization's New York City and California offices
Soon after an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow announced the termination of 28 employees in a companywide memo
A Google spokesperson had previously said that the protestors had been placed on administrative leave and their access to office systems was limited
Rackow also noted that 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', according to the New York Post.
A Google spokesperson had previously said that the protestors had been placed on administrative leave and their access to office systems was limited.
The fired staffers are believed to be associated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid.
The group has been long critical of Google's involvement and response to the Israel-Hamas war on social media.
Jane Chung, one of the group's spokespersons criticized the company's decision to fire its employees.
'This evening, Google indiscriminately fired 28 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 — the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders.
'Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian are genocide profiteers. We cannot comprehend how these men are able to sleep at night while their tech has enabled 100,000 Palestinians killed, reported missing, or wounded in the last six months of Israel’s genocide — and counting,' the statement read.
The fired staffers are believed to be associated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid
Demonstrators associated with the group entered offices yesterday afternoon and vowed to remain seated until Google pulled out of its $1.2 billion contract with Israel
Several Google employees were arrested Tuesday after staging sit-ins at the company's offices in California and New York
Police officers removed protestors from the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian as hundreds of people watched over a livestream
Yesterday, a total of nine protestors were arrested across both locations. It is unclear if these nine are included in the 28 that were fired today.
Staffers on the Sunnyvale campus were livestreaming their protest on Twitch when another employee walked in around the eighth hour.
'We'd like to see if you could just voluntarily - it's been a while, so, can you do that for us?' the man asked, urging them to clear out the space and contact HR.
'Could you get in contact with TK about this?' one woman responded, referring to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, whose office they were sitting in.
When the workers refused to leave, a stream of police officers filed in and instructed them to put their hands behind their backs.
Hundreds of people watched online as the employees were taken into custody. Video posted to social media shows police leading them out of the building in handcuffs.
Demonstrators associated with the group entered offices yesterday afternoon and vowed to remain seated until Google pulled out of its $1.2 billion contract with Israel.
Under the 2021 agreement, known as Project Nimbus, Google and Amazon jointly provide AI and cloud computing services to branches of the Israeli government.
While the contract initially faced some pushback from shareholders, protests have only intensified amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict that has seen over 30,000 Palestinian civilians killed.
In December, employees staged a 'die-in' outside one of Google's offices in San Francisco, bringing traffic to a standstill as they chanted and waved flags at a busy intersection.
Just last month, the tech giant fired an engineer who protested during a keynote speech by the managing director of Google’s Israel business.
The nine arrested employees were placed on administrative leave, according to a spokesperson for the tech giant
Demonstrators protested Google's $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government, which supplies them with AI and cloud infrastructure
Opponents fear the contract, known as Project Nimbus, lays the groundwork for the Israeli military to surveil Palestinians en masse
Workers' concerns stem from a clause in the deal that bars Google and Amazon from denying services to specific parts of the government, sparking speculation that the tech could be used by the Israeli Defense Forces.
Demonstrators crowded into Kurian's California office on Tuesday, displaying signs splashed with the colors of the Google logo and a poster urging him to 'drop Nimbus.'
In the New York office, workers unfurled a banner over a railing reading 'Google worker sit-in against Project Nimbus,' along with the rallying cry: 'No tech for genocide.'
A truck outside the building flashed messages on large screens. One read, 'IDF soldier admitted to the New York Times that they use Google Photos to make a hit list with little evidence.'
The line referenced a report from March that detailed the IDF's use of facial recognition technology across the embattled Gaza Strip.
In that article, an anonymous Israeli official claimed Google Photos worked better than any alternative facial recognition technology and could aid in efforts to identify Hamas members in crowds.
A post to the No Tech for Apartheid Instagram page lays out a list of workers' demands.
Among them are calls to cancel the Project Nimbus contract, 'stop the harassment, intimidation, bullying, silencing, and censorship of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim Googlers' and 'address the health and safety crisis among Google workers.
In the New York office, workers displayed a banner reading, 'No tech for genocide'
Protestors in the Sunnyvale office (pictured) were seen being led out of the office in handcuffs
Workers' demands include the cancellation of the Project Nimbus contract and an end to 'the harassment, intimidation, bullying, silencing, and censorship of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim Googlers'
A truck outside the New York office referenced a March report in which an Israeli official claimed Google Photos worked better than any alternative facial recognition technology
The sit-ins came amid a wave of similar protests at Amazon, which jointly signed the 2021 Project Nimbus contract, and across the country at large
Amazon employees also attended rallies on Tuesday to decry the Nimbus Project, marking the latest in a series of clashes within the company.
On April 12, the the Anti-Defamation League and JLens, a Jewish investor network, filed a notice of exempt solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to a shareholder-submitted proposal.
Proposal 6 of Amazon's 2024 proxy statement includes a request that the tech giant's board of directors commission an independent third-party report to determine whether customers' use of Amazon services 'contributes to human rights violations or violates international humanitarian law.'
The ADL and JLens insist the proposal 'contains information that seeks to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist' and that its supporting statement, which claims Israel 'uses AWS to support the apartheid system,' is defamatory.
Tuesday's sit-ins came amid sweeping protests across the United States. Just a day earlier, demonstrators blocked Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, snarling traffic and leading to a spate of arrests.
California Governor Gavin Newsom later asserted that the 38 people taken into custody 'need to be held to account for their actions.'
Activists crowded entrances to airports and blocked highways in other states as part of coordinated demonstrations against U.S. military support for Israel.
Google is also laying off a large number of other employees as part of 'large scale' restructuring at the technology giant
Company CEO Sundar Pichai told employees at the start of the year to expect more job cuts
Google's finance chief, Ruth Porat, said the restructuring includes expanding growth in Bangalore and Mexico City.
There have been savage job cuts in Silicon Valley. Google, Microsoft, Meta, Salesforce and Amazon fired between six to 13 percent of their workforce last year.
Just a day earlier, protestors blocked the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, snarling traffic and leading to a spate of arrests. California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the 38 protestors taken into custody 'need to be held to account for their actions.'
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