Achi news desk-
Google has fired 28 workers following protests over technology the internet company supplies to the Israeli government amid the Gaza war, further escalating tensions over a hot-button deal.
The firings confirmed by Google late Wednesday came a day after nine workers were arrested during sit-ins at offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, after the company called the police.
The controversy surrounding Google centers on “Project Nimbus,” a US$1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 that calls for Google and Amazon to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government.
The protests are mainly organized by a group called No Tech For Apartheid. Google says Nimbus is not being used to gather weapons or intelligence.
In a statement, Google attributed the firing of the 28 employees to “totally unacceptable behavior” that prevented some employees from doing their jobs and created an intimidating atmosphere. The Mountain View, California company added that it was still investigating what happened during the protests, suggesting that more workers could still be fired.
In a blog post, No Tech For Apartheid accused Google of lying about what happened inside its offices during what it described as a “peaceful sit-in” that received overwhelming support from other employees who did not participate in the protest.
“This retaliatory action is a clear indication that Google values ​​its US$1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own employees,” asserted No Tech For Apartheid.
The contract that is scaring some Google employees runs within the company’s cloud computing division which is overseen by former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian.
Under Kurian’s leadership, cloud computing has emerged as one of Google’s fastest-growing divisions, with revenue of US$33 billion last year, a 26 percent increase from 2022. A wide range of private sector companies are also buys Google’s cloud computing services, in addition to governments around the world.
Google employees have staged angry protests from time to time over other deals the company has been working on and have also raised ethical concerns about the way it develops artificial intelligence.
One of the workers’ previous revolts led Google to decide in 2018 to end a contract with the US defense department called “Project Maven” which included helping the armed forces analyze military videos.
But Google has continued to thrive, despite internal doubts about how it makes some of its money. Its revenue comes primarily through digital advertising sold through an internet empire that relies on its main search engine as its main pillar.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., posted a profit of US$74 billion last year and now employs about 182,000 workers worldwide – about 83,000 more people than in 2018 when it abandoned Project Maven.
