After a disagreement on layoffs, a large number of Google workers in London staged a walkout on Tuesday, Apr. 4, at the company's headquarters in the city.
Notably, Google's parent firm, Alphabet, said in January that it would be laying off 12,000 employees throughout the globe, or about 6% of its global workforce.
Layoffs.fyi reports that since the beginning of the year, more than 290,000 people have lost their jobs in corporate America, the majority of them in the tech industry.
Issues That Seem to Have Been Ignored
According to Evening Standard, Unionized Google workers staged the protest, with some exclaiming, "What's disgusting? Union busting" and "Enough is enough." Others held signs with sayings like "Being evil is not a strategy" and "RIP Google culture 1998 - 2023".
The Google workers and the trade union Unite representing them have claimed that the firm has disregarded their complaints.
In a report by Reuters, Unite regional officer Matt Whaley said, "Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil."
He went on to say that the Google employees, together with Unite, will not back down until the tech giant gives these people full union protection, participates in the consultation process in a meaningful way, and treats its personnel with the "respect and dignity" they deserve.
Talks between workers and management, according to a Google employee who attended the demonstration but requested not to be identified for fear of reprisal, were "extremely frustrating." The individual said it had been a trying time for everyone concerned.
To ensure that all workers' voices are heard, they have established a redundancy procedure. "But it feels as if our concerns have fallen on deaf ears," they said.
Meeting Employees, Hearing Their Feedback
Google's upper management has had redundancy negotiations throughout most of Europe to comply with national labor regulations, as Reuters reported.
Employee representatives at Google's Zurich branch in Switzerland said last month that the corporation had rejected their ideas to decrease job cutbacks, prompting a walkout by employees there.
An official from Google expressed their understanding that this is a really tough moment for our staff. "As we said on January 20, we've made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles globally."
Reportedly, in the UK, Google's management has been constructively engaging and listening to staff via a number of meetings. They are also working hard to provide them clarity and share information as quickly as possible in accordance with all UK protocols and regulatory obligations.
Google claims it would help workers whose positions are terminated as a result of the layoffs. In the UK alone, Google has around 5,000 employees.
