Dozens of former Google employees have filed a complaint with the US National Labor Relations Board after being fired or placed on administrative leave for protesting the company’s cloud-computing contract with Israel’s government. The workers claim they were retaliated against for participating in a peaceful protest connected to their terms and conditions of work, and are seeking reinstatement and back pay.
Google has defended its actions, stating that the protests involved employees disrupting and occupying work spaces, making others feel threatened and unsafe. The company maintains that every terminated employee was directly involved in disruptive activity and stands by the actions taken. The protests included sit-ins at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, with some workers being terminated last month.
A group called No Tech for Apartheid, made up of Google and Amazon employees, organized the protest and claims that some of the fired workers were bystanders not actively involved in the activism. The company investigated the disruptions in its buildings on April 16 and terminated the employment of additional employees found to be directly involved in the activities. However, affected workers argue that they should not have been fired for exercising their right to protest.
Harvard Law School Professor Benjamin Sachs explains that employees, including those at Google, have the right to protest working conditions through concerted activity. He notes that a protest concerning the type of work employees are asked to do can be protected, depending on factors such as the level of disruption, seizure of employer property, and duration of the work stoppage. The Google workers were protesting the company’s cloud-computing deal with Israel’s government in the wake of conflict in the region that has led to significant civilian casualties.
Protests over US government and business support for Israel have sparked demonstrations across college campuses and within corporate America. Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to all employees urging them to keep politics out of the workplace and focus on business matters, emphasizing that the company is not a place for disruptive behavior or political debates. The divide over the ongoing conflict in Gaza has stirred emotions and activism, leading to increased tensions within various sectors of society.
