Following a disagreement on layoffs, hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout at the company’s London offices on Tuesday.
Google’s parent firm Alphabet (GOOGL.O) stated in January that it was firing 12,000 workers globally, or 6% of its total workforce.
The decision was made in the midst of a wave of layoffs sweeping corporate America, particularly in the tech industry, where employers have so far fired more than 290,000 people since the year’s beginning, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.
The trade union Unite, which has hundreds of Google employees in the UK as members, said that the corporation had disregarded employee complaints.
According to Unite regional officer Matt Whaley, “Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil.”
“Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil,” said Unite regional officer Matt Whaley.
“They and Unite will not back down until Google allows workers full union representation, engages properly with the consultation process and treats its staff with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
A Google employee attending the protest, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, told Reuters that talks between employees and management had been “extremely frustrating.”
“It has been difficult for those involved. We have a redundancy process for a reason, so that employees can make their voice heard,” they said. “But it feels as if our concerns have fallen on deaf ears.”
In many European countries, Google’s senior management has had redundancy discussions in accordance with local labor rules.
Employee representatives claimed that Google had rejected their offers to limit job layoffs, and employees at the company’s Zurich branch in Switzerland staged a walkout akin to this one last month.
“As we said on January 20, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles globally. We know this is a very challenging time for our employees,” a Google spokesperson said.
“In the UK, we have been constructively engaging and listening to our employees through numerous meetings, and are working hard to bring them clarity and share updates as soon as we can in adherence with all UK processes and legal requirements.”
Google employs more than 5,000 people in the United Kingdom.
reuters
