Google FIRES 28 employees over their involvement in $1.2B Israel contract ... trends now
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
