Google announced the termination of 28 employees connected to protests over its $1.2 billion cloud computing contracts with the Israeli government on Wednesday. The firings followed the arrests of nine Google employees for trespassing in the company’s New York and California offices on Tuesday during a sit-in protest.
“A small group of employee protesters entered and disrupted a few of our locations,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement to Gizmodo. “We have conducted investigations leading to the termination of 28 employees and will continue to investigate further.”
Google states these protests interfered with other employees’ work and restricted access to facilities. No Tech for Apartheid tells Gizmodo that 19 of the terminated employees did not directly participate in the sit-in protests, but were linked to the movement.
“This act of retaliation shows Google’s preference for its $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government over its workers,” said a No Tech for Apartheid spokesperson in a statement. “Google employees have the right to peacefully protest work conditions.”
In a memo to employees on Wednesday, shared by The Verge, Google’s head of global security, Chris Rackow, said “such behavior has no place in our workplace.” The memo claims the protestors defaced Google’s property and “made coworkers feel threatened.” Rackow urges employees to reconsider if they expect Google to excuse policy violations.
A Google spokesperson tells Gizmodo the cloud computing contracts, Project Nimbus, do not involve sensitive military tasks related to weapons or intelligence services. However, Time recently reported Google provides cloud computing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and has negotiated a deeper partnership during the Gaza conflict.
These 28 workers join previous employees like Eddie Hatfield, a Google software engineer fired after disrupting an Israeli tech conference. Google cited “bullying” and “harassment” for the terminations, while No Tech for Apartheid claims the protests were peaceful and workers felt bullied by Google’s response.
No Tech for Apartheid’s protest is part of a growing movement within Google and Amazon against big tech’s involvement with Israel. Tuesday’s New York protest drew over 100 people, with dozens more in Sunnyvale, California. The movement claims support from “thousands of colleagues” within Google and Amazon, vowing to continue protests until the company abandons Project Nimbus.
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