Google has reportedly terminated the employment of at least 20 more employees, a week after firing 28 workers who participated in sit-in protests. The latest wave of layoffs is linked to protests against the tech giant's deal with Israel amid its conflict with Palestine, according to a report by The Verge.
The protests stemmed from concerns over Google's $1.2 billion cloud computing project, known as Project Nimbus, with the Israeli government. The total number of employees fired for protesting Project Nimbus has now risen to nearly 50, as per The Verge.
According to Jane Chung, a spokesperson for ‘No Tech for Apartheid’, Google dismissed "non-participating bystanders" in the recent layoffs.
Earlier, nine Google employees who protested on office premises were reportedly arrested. Google's head of security, Chris Rackow, condemned the demonstrations, describing them as disruptive and threatening to coworkers. Subsequently, Google terminated the employment of 28 employees following an investigation into the incident.
In response to the protests, Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a warning to employees, emphasizing the company's culture of open discussion while also stressing the importance of maintaining a conducive work environment.
A Google spokesperson reiterated that all those fired were "personally and definitively" involved in disruptive activities inside office buildings. The spokesperson stated that the investigation into the events has concluded, and additional employees found to have been directly involved in disruptive activities have been terminated.
"As we indicated, we continued our investigation into the physical disruption inside our buildings on April 16, looking at additional details provided by coworkers who were physically disrupted, as well as those employees who took longer to identify because their identity was partly concealed–like by wearing a mask without their badge–while engaged in the disruption," the spokesperson said.
"Our investigation into these events is now concluded, and we have terminated the employment of additional employees who were found to have been directly involved in disruptive activity. To reiterate, every single one of those whose employment was terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity inside our buildings. We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed this," they added.
