Several employees at Google’s offices in London staged a walkout on Tuesday to protest against what they call “unfair” job cuts. On the back of a global economic slowdown, Google-patent Alphabet announced in January to cut about 12,000 jobs.
According to a Reuters report, a Trade union called Unite said that the Sundar Pichai-led company ignored concerns put forward by employees. The union demands that Google lets “workers full union representation, engages properly with the consultation process and treats its staff with the respect and dignity they deserve,” the report quoted Unite regional officer Matt Whaley.
Some other employees, who were interviewed by the media organization, allege Google management for not properly engaging with the impacted employees during the redundancy process. A Google spokesperson, however, said that the company is “constructively” engaging with the employees through several meetings. More than 5,000 employees work at Google’s offices in the United Kingdom, the report noted.
A similar sort of protest was witnessed in Switzerland. Last month, employees at Google’s Zurich office in Switzerland staged a walkout, for the second time, to protest against the job cuts. Over 200 employees were laid off in January by the American multinational tech major in the country. In January, around 250 Google Swiss employees walked out to protest the tech major’s decision of laying off 6% of its workforce globally.
While announcing the layoffs in January, the Sundar Pichai-led company said it was prepared for “a different economic reality” and the CEO took “full responsibility” for the decisions that led to the layoffs. Google’s job cuts also affected the national shores, and the company reportedly laid off 453 employees across various departments in February.
Several other tech companies like Meta, Twitter, and Microsoft, among others, have laid off thousands of employees in an attempt to gear up for a global economic slowdown. Earlier this week, Apple Inc. was reported of reducing its workforce within specific corporate retail teams, marking a shift in the company’s approach to layoffs.
