Tech giant, Google, has terminated the employment of 28 workers for protesting against a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract inked by Google and Amazon with the Israeli government and its military three years ago.
Google said the protesting employees were sacked for entering and disrupting work at a few unspecified office locations.
- “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” the company said in a statement.
The project called Project Numbus reportedly provides Israel with the full suite of Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.
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Workers react
Meanwhile, Google’s workers affiliated with the protest have also issued a statement accusing the company of valuing the contract more than its workers. In the statement posted on Medium, the workers said:
- “This evening, Google indiscriminately fired over two dozen workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests.
- “This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers.
- “In the three years that we have been organizing against Project Nimbus, we have yet to hear from a single executive about our concerns. Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about terms and conditions of our labor. These firings were clearly retaliatory.”
Countering Google’s claims
The workers added that their bosses called the police on their workers, the Nimbus Nine, who were arrested and taken into custody and punished all the workers they could associate with this action in wholesale firings, through a dragnet of in-office surveillance.
- “Google cited “bullying” and “harassment” as the reasons for workers’ firing. If there has been any bullying or harassment at the company, our Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim colleagues have been the recipients.
- “Google claims that protesters “defaced property” and “physically impeded the work of other Googlers. This excuse to avoid confronting us and our concerns directly, and attempt to justify its illegal, retaliatory firings, is a lie.
- “Even the workers who were participating in a peaceful sit-in and refusing to leave did not damage property or threaten other workers. Instead they received an overwhelmingly positive response and shows of support,” they added.
Menwhile, Google in its statement In its statement maintained that the Nimbus contract “is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”