Around the World, Google Employees Are Walking Off the Job

Employees are protesting company's handling of sexual harassment claims, plus other issues
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2018 11:55 AM CDT
Google Employees Stage Worldwide Walk-Off
Google employees walk off the job in New York City.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Carrying signs with messages such as "Don't be evil," Google employees around the world walked off the job Thursday in a protest against what they said is the tech company's mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives. Employees staged walkouts at offices from Tokyo to Singapore to London, the AP reports. Hundreds protested outside Google's office in New York, and others were expected to do so later in California. In Dublin, organizers used megaphones to address the crowd of men and women to express their support for victims of sexual harassment. Other workers shied away from the media spotlight, with people gathering instead indoors, in packed conference rooms or lobbies, to show their solidarity with abuse victims.

In an unsigned statement from organizers, sent from a company account, protesters called for an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination. They also want Google to commit to ending pay inequity and to create a publicly disclosed sexual harassment report and a clearer process for reporting complaints. The protest unfolded a week after a New York Times story detailed allegations of sexual misconduct about the creator of Google's Android software, Andy Rubin. The report said Rubin received a $90 million severance package in 2014 after Google concluded the sexual misconduct allegations against him were credible. In response, Google revealed it has fired 48 employees over the past two years, without severance, for sexual harassment, and an Alphabet exec named in the article resigned without exit pay. (More Google stories.)

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