Alphabet’s Google said it fired 28 employees who protested the tech giant’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government this week, the latest example of how debate over the war in Gaza is growing.
How does it affect some workplaces? In a companywide email, Vice President of Global Security Chris Rackow said Google fired the employees after an investigation found they were involved in protests at the company’s offices technology in New York and Sunnyvale, California.
Rackow said in an email Wednesday that the fired employees “took over the office, defaced our property, and physically interfered with the work of other Google employees,” violating the policy company books.
A $2 billion contract with Israel’s genocidal government and military, more so than with its workers – who create real value for managers and shareholders.
The latest protests follow a Time magazine article citing company documents claiming Google provided cloud services to the Israeli Defense Ministry.
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Google and Amazon signed a contract in 2021, called Nimbus, to provide cloud services to the Israeli government.
Police in New York and California arrested nine Google employees on Tuesday after a 10-hour sit-in, according to No Tech for Apartheid protesters in Sunnyvale occupied an office used by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
At both locations, protesters said they planned to occupy Google offices until they were stopped or Google canceled its contract with Israel.
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Employees in New York sat in a common area and unfurled a banner reading “No Technocide.” While Google said earlier this week that the contract was not intended for use in weapons or intelligence work, some employees are concerned that Google will continue to support Israel’s war efforts.
Protesters say Google has little control over how Israel uses its technology. Google has a history of open internal debate on political and professional issues.
At a company-wide meeting following Donald Trump’s 2016 election to the White House, Google executives, including co-founder Sergey Brin, lamented his victory and debated the impact of the company’s services on the election.
In 2018, Google decided not to renew its contract with the Pentagon, codenamed “Project Maven,” after it was the subject of intense internal debate.
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The company has promised not to produce artificial intelligence technology for military weapons and has adopted a set of AI principles to guide its work Some Amazon employees also protested the contract with Israel.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group that has criticized the company’s environmental policies, called on the company to cancel its contract with Nimbus in February.
Just as we don’t want our work used to help fossil fuel companies accelerate extraction and destruction, we don’t want our work used to serve the military and surveillance products like Project Nimbus, who perpetuate this genocide, the team said in a message on X. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on Nimbus.
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