Google terminated 28 employees who participated in a protest against a contract between the company and the Israeli government on Tuesday. Google said the employees blocking offices during sit-in protests in California and New York violated company policy, stating:
Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior…. 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.
No Tech for Apartheid Campaign responded to the employee terminations, alleging they were retaliatory firings, stating:
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 a memo sent to Google employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is not a platform for personal political activism, stating:
This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,
