Google fired 28 workers who participated in sit-ins at the New York and Sunnyvale, Calif. offices to protest the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The protesters were upset over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion deal between Google and Amazon to supply cloud services to the Israeli government, including artificial intelligence capabilities. Tensions had been building between activist employees and management, with some employees even being arrested on charges of trespassing during the protests.
The protests intensified following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October, with Google firing an employee who disrupted an Israeli technology conference in New York. The company also announced plans to make changes to a corporate forum due to bickering among employees about the conflict. Some employees affiliated with the No Tech For Apartheid group organized the sit-ins and accused Google of retaliation by firing workers who were peacefully protesting working conditions related to the Nimbus contract.
Despite employee concerns, a Google spokeswoman clarified that the Nimbus contract was not aimed at handling sensitive or classified information relevant to military or intelligence services. In the past, Google employees were successful in convincing the company to end a deal with the U.S. Defense Department known as Project Maven, which was intended to support military drone video analysis. However, activists involved in protesting the Nimbus contract stated that they would continue to push for the company to drop the project until their demands are met.
The sit-ins at the offices of Google Cloud’s chief executive, Thomas Kurian, resulted in the company launching an investigation into the protests. In Sunnyvale, employees refused to vacate Kurian’s office, leading to the firings that the No Tech For Apartheid group called a flagrant act of retaliation. The group argued that employees have the right to peacefully protest labor terms and conditions and that some of those fired had not even participated in the sit-ins. Google reiterated its stance on acceptable behavior, stating that physically impeding work and preventing access to facilities violated company policies.
The tensions stemming from the Nimbus contract and the employee protests highlight a growing trend of activism within tech companies around their business partnerships with governments and military entities. Companies like Google are facing increased scrutiny from their own employees over ethical concerns related to the use of their technology in ways that conflict with their values. The dismissals of the protesting workers may further escalate the situation, as employees continue to demand accountability and transparency from their employers on contentious issues like Project Nimbus and its implications for human rights.
