Google Fires 28 Workers After Protests Over Israeli Government Contract
In a dramatic turn of events, Google has fired 28 employees following protests at the company’s New York and Sunnyvale offices over its cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The protests, organized by a group called No Tech For Apartheid, saw dozens of employees participating in sit-ins and nine individuals being arrested for trespassing.
The tensions between Google’s management and activist employees have been brewing for years over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion deal with Amazon to provide cloud services to the Israeli government, including artificial intelligence. The conflict escalated during the recent war in Gaza, leading to further discord within the company.
A Google spokeswoman stated that the protesters had violated company policies by impeding other employees’ work and preventing access to facilities. The company is currently investigating the protests, which included employees refusing to leave the office of Google Cloud’s chief executive.
The fired employees, some of whom did not participate in the sit-ins, have been described as victims of “flagrant retaliation” by No Tech For Apartheid. They argue that Google workers have the right to peacefully protest labor conditions and are calling for the termination of Project Nimbus.
Despite Google’s assurance that the Nimbus contract does not involve sensitive or military-related workloads, employees remain concerned about the company’s involvement with the Israeli government. This is not the first time Google employees have protested against controversial contracts, as they successfully pushed the company to end a deal with the U.S. Defense Department in 2018.
As the conflict between Google and its activist employees continues, it remains to be seen how the company will address the ongoing protests and demands for the termination of Project Nimbus.
