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Google workers walk out in global protest over harassment
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of Google employees
joined a coordinated worldwide walkout Thursday to protest the US tech
giant’s handling of sexual harassment as the chief vowed “concrete steps are
coming” in response to the concern.
Google employees poured out of buildings at the company’s Silicon Valley
“Googleplex,” filling courtyards and patios in solidarity with workers around
the world who held similar protests over the company’s handling of sexual
misconduct.
Demonstrators streamed across the Mountain View campus, some waving signs
bearing messages such as “Time’s Up Tech” and “Happy to quit for $90 million
— no sexual harassment required.”
The turnout in California was the final stage of a global walkout that
began in Asia and spread to Google offices in Europe.
Some protesters chalked statements such as “Not OK Google” in large letters
on pavement as television news helicopters circled overhead.
Pictures, videos and comments steadily flooded a freshly-launched “Google
Walkout For Real Change” account on Twitter as employees and contractors left
their workplaces to rally.
“There’s been anger and frustration within the company,” Google chief
executive Sundar Pichai was quoted as saying at a New York Times Dealbook
conference on Thursday.
“At Google, we set a very high bar, and we clearly didn’t live up to our
expectations.”
Pichai was quoted as saying Google has “drawn a very hard line” on improper
behavior in recent years but that “moments like this show we didn’t always do
it right.”
He reportedly added that “there are concrete steps coming up.”
In New York, where Google has a large office in the Chelsea neighborhood,
hundreds of employees took to the streets.
“I think we are a really powerful collective and we all want to see
change,” said Claire Stapleton, one of the New York organizers. “I think
leadership is listening.”
The protest took shape after Google said last week that it had fired 48
employees in the past two years — including 13 senior executives — as a
result of allegations of sexual misconduct.
That statement came after The New York Times reported that a senior Google
employee, Android creator Andy Rubin, received an exit package worth $90
million as he faced allegations of misconduct, and that Google had covered up
other claims of sexual harassment.
Rubin has denied the allegations and claimed he was the victim of a “smear
campaign.”
Protesters pointed out that women make up only about 31 percent of the
workforce and 25 percent of executives at Google.
Demma Rodriguez, head of equity engineering and a seven-year Google
employee, said the protest was an important part of bringing fairness to the
technology colossus.
“We have an aspiration to be the best company in the world,” Rodriguez
said.
“But we also have goals as a company and we can’t decide we are going to
miss those.”
– Dublin and London –
At Google’s Dublin campus, the company’s European headquarters, around 500
people walked out in chilly conditions but were reticent about speaking to
the media.
Organizer Kate, who did not want to give her surname, told the crowd that
she coordinated the Dublin walkout “in solidarity with anybody who has
experienced any form of sexual harassment or misconduct in our workplace.”
She told reporters afterward: “If even one person has experienced it, it’s
important for us — for me — to show our solidarity and say that we don’t
agree with that, and that it shouldn’t happen.”
In London, hundreds of workers packed into the biggest room at their main
office in protest and later headed outside.
“We’re walking out to support colleagues in any workplace that have
suffered harassment and to ensure that perpetrators aren’t protected or
rewarded,” Sam Dutton, a developer advocate, told AFP.
Demands posted by organizers included an end to forced arbitration in cases
of harassment and discrimination for all current and future employees, along
with a right for every Google worker to bring a co-worker, representative, or
supporter when filing a harassment claim.
– CEO ‘deeply sorry’ –
The walkout call came as Google’s parent company Alphabet confirmed
Wednesday that Richard DeVaul, an executive reportedly accused of sexual
harassment, left the company without an exit package.
Pichai sent a message to employees late Tuesday, a copy of which was posted
online by technology news website Ars Technica.
Pichai said he has heard from many employees on the subject of
inappropriate behavior at work and was “deeply sorry for the past actions and
the pain they have caused employees.”
The concerns at Google have added to the growing chorus of voices
denouncing the existence of a sexist culture in male-dominated Silicon
Valley, which has knocked a number of internet industry executives at other
tech giants from their perches.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0914 hrs