In January, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced that it was laying off 12,000 employees worldwide
Hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout at the company’s London offices on Tuesday, following a dispute over redundancies at the company.
In January, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced that it was laying off 12,000 employees worldwide, equivalent to 6% of its global workforce.
The move came amid job cuts at US companies, especially in the technology sector, in which more than 290,000 workers have been cut since the beginning of the year, according to the Layoffs tracking site.
The Unite union, which counts hundreds of Google employees in the UK among its members, said the company had ignored concerns raised by employees.
“Our members are clear: Google has to listen to its own advice not to be evil,” Unite’s regional manager Matt Whaley said. “They and Unite will not back down until Google allows workers full union representation, properly engages in the consultation process, and treats its staff with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Google management has engaged in layoff talks in many parts of Europe, in line with local employment law.
Last month, workers at the company’s Zurich (Switzerland) office staged a similar walkout, during which employee representatives claimed that Google had rejected their proposals on downsizing.
“As we said on January 20, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 positions worldwide. We know this is a very difficult time for our employees,” a Google spokesperson said.
“In the UK, we have constructively engaged and listened to our employees through numerous meetings, and are working hard to provide clarity and share updates as soon as we can in compliance with all UK processes and requirements. legal.”
Google employs more than 5,000 people in the UK.