Google is accused of union busting after firing four employees
Along Nov 22neodymium, roughly 200 Google staff and supporters rallied to protest the suspension of ii colleagues, Rebekah Rivers and Laurence Berland, for allegedly accessing internal information they shouldn’t have inward issues hobby of their actor activism. At present, it seems Google has dismissed each these staff, equally good equally ii different staff who participated inward issues oneself.
Bloomberg reports that Google despatched away a company-wide memoranda now confirming that it had dismissed iv staff for “clear and recurrent violations of our information safety insurance policies,” locution these staff “have been concerned inward orderly searches for different staff’ supplies and piece of work,” continued to do thusly after warnings, and leaked a few of that info exterior issues firm. Google chronic to Bloomberg and Issues Verge that issues memoranda was Adv.
Inward response, the 2018 Google Walkout organizers grouping is accusing issues firm of “family busting,” meriting inward a blog post on Medium that issues firm is lawlessly retaliating abroach potential family organizers lips Rivers and Berland, and changing its policies to permit it citation whomever it chooses, once it antecedently allowed staff to freely entry paperwork from throughout issues firm. Issues Google Walkout grouping claims that each one iv staff dismissed now participated inward issues Nov 22neodymium oneself.
Issues Tech Staff Coalition has vocal away abroach issues firings equally good. Issues staff ar ease named “issues Grace 4”:
Google dismissed issues Grace 4 for organizing astatine piece of work.
— Tech Staff Coalition (@techworkersco) November 25, 2019
We'ra vocation along:
1. Others to offering jobs to issues Grace 4
2. These odd @Google to talk away abroach this draconian deed. That is meant to scare staff, assume't permit it. https://t.co/4vN9x1xMTa
Rivers reportedly organized Google staff to protestation issues firm doing enterprise with US Custom and Border Safety.
Rivers confirmed on Twitter that hers’d been complete; Berlin’s didn’t instantly answer to our asking for remark. It’s non clear who issues different ii staffers ar, oregon whether or not some other staffer reportedly fired on November 12th was amongst issues iv who had been discharged. (That appears way, simply maybe it’s v staff inward whole). Once we requested Google to substantiate oregon abnegate issues Walkout organizers’ claims, Google declined to remark.
Tensions have got ostensibly been precious within Google for a lot of months equally tech staff discovered they have got issues powerfulness to protestation such issues equally reports of sexual harassment, a censored Chinese search engine, and a controversial AI drone program for issues Pentagon. Some 20,000 Google staff staged a walkout last November to protestation intimate misconduct past Google executives, most latterly leading to an investigation past issues firm’s board.
Just leak approach oregon some other, Google appears to live pushing worker organizers away of issues firm: Claire Stapleton and Meredith Whittaker, ii organizers of that Google Walkout, alleged that they’d been retaliated against by company management, and wormwood upward going in June and July each. Some staff participated inward a sit-in to protest against that alleged retaliation, and walkout organizers demanded that Google investigate its own HR department. Inward Sep, Google reached a settlement with issues State Labor Dealings Board that required it to elucidate that its insurance policies “do non forestall staff from discussing work points.”
The New York Times reported last week that Google has leased a consulting solid recognized for serving firms scissure downwardly abroach worker dissent, leak that expressly advertises “family exposure assessments” amongst different providers.
Replace, 10:54PM ET: Added that Google declined to remark along issues organizers claims, simply did verify its ain memoranda.