Google has terminated more than two dozen employees who participated in protests against the company’s cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government.
News About Nigeria reports that the workers were fired after an internal investigation concluded that they were involved in disruptive protests inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, on Tuesday.
Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president for global security, addressed the terminations in a companywide email, stating, “Their behaviour was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
A Google spokesperson confirmed to CBS MoneyWatch that law enforcement was called to remove the protesters after they refused to leave the premises.
“After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety.
“We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed,” the Google spokesperson said.
Nine demonstrators were subsequently arrested, according to No Tech for Apartheid, the organisation behind the protests.
The protests were aimed at Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon to provide the Israeli government with AI and cloud services.
No Tech for Apartheid cited a recent Time Magazine report that revealed Google had developed custom tools for Israel’s Ministry of Defence and had contracts with the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Responding to the protests and terminations, No Tech criticised Google, stating, “Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about the terms and conditions of our labour. These firings were clearly retaliatory.”
In a statement, Google defended its work with the Israeli government, stating that it provides cloud computing services to various governments worldwide, including Israel.
However, the company clarified that its services are not directed at highly sensitive or military-related workloads.
