Sacked Google engineers break silence in complaint to US government

After Google fired a group of engineers, they broke their silence by filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on December 5 alleging the company retaliated against them for their activism supposedly to form a union. The complaint suggested that the workers may have been previously working with Google and was filed on the workers' behalf by the Communications Workers of America union. Many technology firms including Google have broadly resisted similar union drives. The complaint comes just two days after Google's co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, stepped back from Alphabet handing the reins to Sundar Pichai. With this, Pichai will have to tackle ongoing antitrust investigations at the Justice Department and nearly every state attorney general's office.

The written complaint read that Google employees across the nation have been organizing for their mutual benefit and protection to preserve and improve their working conditions. It also mentioned the sacked employees - Laurence Berland, Sophie Waldman, Paul Duke, and Rebecca Rivers - who visibly led and participated in these efforts. Google's termination of the workers was unlawful and meant to discourage and chill employees from organizing activities that are protected by the National Labor Relations Act, it alleged. 

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Google disputes the claims

Disputing the claims in the complaint, Google has said that it sacked the employees for violating company policies, including reviewing internal files that were outside the scope of their job and for accessing employees' calendars. A spokeswoman for Google, Jenn Kaiser, said the employees were fired thorough investigation found the individuals were involved in systematic searches for other employees' materials and work. This includes searching for, accessing, and distributing business information outside the scope of their jobs, read a memo obtained from the company in November.

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Workers protests against Google

Earlier in September, a small group of contract workers at a Google office in Pittsburgh voted to form a union in September. They aimed at collective bargaining which would help them secure benefits and pay on par with non-contract Google workers. Later in November, another rally was organised where about 200 workers protested their suspensions and demanded Google reinstate them. The sacked employees have with time become a symbol for the activist workers. 

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The company reached a separate settlement with the NLRB, agreeing to post notices to remind employees of their workplace rights, including the ability to talk to each other about conditions and push for other changes in September. With the recent unrest, they have been seeking to control what information employees discuss after recent leaks, including those of sensitive projects, such as work with the Defense Department and attempts to craft products for mainland China, where Google is largely banned. In October, Google rolled out new internal software that some employees believed was meant to monitor them, particularly in their efforts to discuss union organizing. 

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