According to a group representing the former employees, Google has terminated over 50 employees following in-office protests concerning the company’s cloud computing contracts with Israel.
No Tech for Apartheid has been actively protesting against the cloud computing contracts that Google and Amazon have with the Israeli government since 2021. In a statement posted on Medium, the group revealed that Google has fired over 20 employees on Monday night, making the total number of firings exceed 50 since last week.
Nine employees were arrested on April 16 during sit-in protests at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, as reported by The Washington Post. As a result, the firings took place.
Google: Fired employees ‘directly involved in disruptive activity’
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Google has terminated a limited number of employees who participated in the protest, causing disruption to the company’s office environment.
According to a statement from Google to USA TODAY, the company has concluded its investigation into the recent events and has decided to terminate the employment of more employees who were directly involved in disruptive activity. Google emphasized that each employee who was fired was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity within the company’s premises. The decision to terminate their employment was made after careful confirmation and reconfirmation of their involvement.
Google’s actions in firing employees who participated in protests have been criticized by No Tech for Apartheid. The organization refers to these terminations as “an aggressive and desperate act of retaliation,” which also affected individuals who were not directly involved in the protests.
The protests at Google, as well as at Columbia University and other colleges across the U.S., have emerged in response to the humanitarian crisis following Israel’s invasion of Gaza. This invasion was prompted by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the tragic loss of nearly 1,200 lives.
Cloud computing controversy
According to a report from Time, No Tech for Apartheid states that the Israel Ministry of Defense may be gaining access to the cloud computing infrastructure through a $1.2 billion contract awarded to Google and Amazon in 2021. The contract, known as Project Nimbus, raises concerns about the potential implications of providing such access to the Israeli government.
Google has consistently emphasized that its cloud computing agreement is exclusively intended for civilian applications.
According to a statement from the company, it is emphasized that the Nimbus contract is specifically for Israeli government ministries utilizing their commercial cloud. These ministries must agree to abide by the company’s Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. It is important to note that this work is not intended for highly sensitive, classified, or military-related tasks pertaining to weapons or intelligence services.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses recent protests
In an announcement on Google’s blog on April 18, Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the ongoing protests.
He wrote that their culture fosters vibrant and open discussions, which allows them to create exceptional products and put great ideas into practice.
According to Pichai, it is crucial to remember that despite the various discussions and debates taking place within the company, the primary focus should always be on maintaining a productive and safe workplace environment. He emphasized that it is not appropriate to engage in behavior that disrupts colleagues or makes them feel unsafe. Additionally, using the company as a personal platform or engaging in heated arguments over contentious issues or politics is discouraged. Pichai stressed the importance of avoiding distractions during this significant time for the company.
Google has gained attention in the past for terminating employees, including the high-profile firing of a leading artificial intelligence researcher who voiced criticism towards the company’s diversity initiatives. Recently, Google made headlines again when they fired a Google Cloud engineer who disrupted a speech by the managing director of Google’s Israel business at a tech event in New York in March, as reported by CNBC.
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