A week after their coworkers were laid off, Google employees staged a protest on both coasts of the United States of America, according to Bloomberg news. Protests were held on Wednesday at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, and again on Thursday near Google’s corporate offices in New York City to draw attention to subcontracted workers’ working conditions at Google and to show solidarity with the 12,000 workers who were laid off.
The protest, which drew about 50 employees outside a Google store on Ninth Avenue, began just minutes after parent company Alphabet Inc. reported fourth-quarter results, which included a $13.6 billion profit, according to the report.
Their responsibilities, according to the report, include reviewing content to help train the company’s AI-powered algorithms, as well as screening YouTube clips and searching ads for offensive or sensitive material. However, the workers claim that their pay and benefits are far below Google’s minimum standards and benefits for direct contract workers.
“Today shows that some of the issues we’re talking about affect all workers regardless of what their actual job title or job status is,” Devor, who has worked at the Mountain giant for more than three years and is an AWU member, told Bloomberg in an interview.
The Alphabet Workers Union, a labour organisation, organised both demonstrations. It is a minority union with no rights to collective bargaining. The workers also claimed that their pay and benefits are significantly lower than Google’s own minimum standards and benefits for direct contract workers.
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