A programmer who was fired from Google because of protests at the company’s offices says he was simply observing a protest against an Israeli defense contract. The former employee said anonymously that he went to the lobby of Google’s New York office just to watch the protest.
«When I got there, there were about 20 people sitting on the floor. I didn’t talk to them, but I talked to the people who were standing, handing out leaflets and so on,» he said, adding that the protesters were wearing identical T-shirts.
Then the employee returned to his workplace and went to the protesters again at the end of the day. «I talked to them for about four minutes, for example: «Oh my God, you’re still sitting here! How are you?», — he said. The next day, he returned to work and had an uneventful day, and in the evening he received an email from Google informing him of his dismissal.
Earlier, Google had sent 9 employees who seized offices in New York and SunnyvaleCalifornia, on administrative leave. They were protesting Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government. They were subsequently arrested. Google later fired 28 employees. An internal memo from the company’s global security department said that it was ready to take more measures if necessary. Less than a week later, Google fired more than 20 other employees — some of whom also say they did not protest.
The fired programmer says he was never contacted and asked if he actually participated in the protests. He says that he is shocked and that he had no idea that this would happen.
While observing the protest, a security guard approached him and others and asked to see their Google badges to make sure there were no unauthorized participants. «It didn’t even occur to me that I shouldn’t show my badge. He’s a security guard at my job, and I didn’t do anything wrong».
More than 50 dismissed employees have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. According to a statement from the group No Tech For Apartheid, which organized the protests, the workers accuse Google of gjvcns and ask to be returned to their jobs.
Google denies firing those who had nothing to do with the protests. A Google spokesperson said that all of the fired employees were «personally and without a doubt involved in subversive activities in our buildings».
Source: The Verge