Layoffs have become a dreaded and anticipated thing in the tech sector, but Google employees wouldn't have expected it to be a result of unionizing. The search engine giant is accused of retaliation as they plan to fire employees who have unionized.
Impending Google Layoffs
The Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA) is working with approximately 80 subcontractors in Google Help as they decided to unionize. However, the group was informed that they would be laid off, weeks after the move.
A group of subcontractors decided to unionize back on June 8th, and around two-thirds received the notice for termination. Casey Padron, a general writer on the team says that the layoff "stinks of retaliation," as mentioned in Engadget.
Padron stated that she was "extremely surprised" to hear about their team's layoffs, especially since they were constantly told by their employers that they were impressed by the quality of their work. With this in mind, retaliation seems more like a probable cause.
In addition to that, Accenture already posted job listings with the job description of the affected employees and project code, just after they were told that the layoffs were a result of cost cuts due to the changes in budget allocation.
Senior writer of the AWU-CWA, Julia Nagatsu Granstromexpressed that they had exercised their right to organize as members of the organization, to bring both employers to the bargaining table and negotiate key demands, which includes layoff protections.
To resolve the possibly illegal response to the unionization, the subcontractors reached out to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and began a hearing this week. The group sees Google and Accenture as joint employers as both play a part in shaping working conditions.
The affected workers were writers and graphic designers who contributed to internal and external content for Google, as well as Google Help support pages. Due to joint employment, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act did not apply to them.
Google's Harsh Layoffs
While the upcoming layoffs might face obstacles for the accusation of retaliation, other employees did not have the chance to even question it as they were fired via an email back in January, which resulted in 12,000 workers losing their jobs.
Despite Google being one of the companies that are regarded as employee-friendly, most would say that the way they laid off workers was somewhat heartless, especially since some of the impacted have worked with the tech giant for years if not decades.
According to CNN, there was at least one employee on health leave and another in the middle of labor with her second child. Some of the employees as well as former employees say that Google has been changing its culture little by little.
What once was the epitome of a healthy working environment was slowly turning into regular companies that sometimes lack compassion for their workers. Perks were being scaled back and access to leaders has been reduced, which goes in line with the recent controversy of retaliation.
