On Friday, protesters assembled outside the giant tech’s office in San Francisco. They had a particular claim that was quite simple of having two employees reinstated to work instantly. However, the group constituting 200 persons expressed that more was at stake. One software engineer termed it as a struggle for the future technology. At the core of the protests were Laurence Berland and Rebecca Rivers. The two had been placed on administrative leave some weeks ago. Neither was given an official reason by the company. Berland and Rivers believe that they are being hit back for speaking up by criticizing Google’s future projects and policies. They’re part of a small but vocal group of workers that double up as activists.
Rebecca, a software engineer, was embroiled in imploring the tech giant to end its work with some legislative agencies like the US Customs and Border Protection and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Berland was part of a group demanding disconnection between Google and the San Francisco Pride festival. This was after a YouTube dispute involving Carlos Manza, a Vox journalist, that disclosed the platform’s opposition to homophobia, harassment, or police hate.
Both Rivers and Berland say that they were immediately locked out of their Google accounts and told that they were under inquiry. Yet, the administration could not make it clear what they had precisely done incorrectly in the execution of their duties. Speaking to the crowd, Berland said that the lockup had nothing to do with them, but the entire public. He also said that the issue was about the work ethos that they have built and that they value together.
Google has extensively prided itself in the culture where workers are inspired to cooperate and pitch in on another’s efforts. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, has encouraged workers to speak freely regarding TGIF. Recently, however, the culture might be overturned by the internal tensions over Google’s wide range of policies and projects. TGIFs no longer exist and Google has employed IRI Consultants; a management firm with a status for crushing workers unions.
Last fall was the turmoil’s flashpoint when global protests against Google’s handling of sexual delinquency were rampant in the US. The NYC, in October, revealed Google’s $90 million exit offering to the Android OS creator, Andy Rubin, after sexual misconduct accusations from employees. Also, Google users have protested over the way the firm uses its technology. They objected to projects including Project Maven, which provided AI services for drone warfare use, and Project Dragonfly, a censored search engine in mainland China.
