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Google employees walk out to protest treatment of women

Published:Thursday | November 1, 2018 | 12:00 AM
AP
Google employees outside its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday. Hundreds of Google engineers and other workers walked off the job Thursday morning to protest the Internet company’s lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct. Employees were seen staging walkouts at offices in Tokyo, Singapore, London, and Dublin.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP):

Carrying signs with messages such as "Don't be evil," Google employees around the world walked off the job yesterday in a protest against what they said is the tech company's mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives.

Employees staged walkouts at offices from Tokyo to Singapore to London. Hundreds protested outside Google's office in New York, and others were expected to do so in California later in the day.

In Dublin, organisers used megaphones to address the crowd of men and women to express their support for victims of sexual harassment. Other workers shied away from the media spotlight, with people gathering instead indoors, in packed conference rooms or lobbies, to show their solidarity with abuse victims.

Protesters in New York carried signs with such messages as "Not OK Google" and the company's one-time motto, "Don't Be Evil." Many employees outside Google's New York offices cited job security in refusing to talk.

 

Unsigned statement

 

In an unsigned statement from organisers sent from a company account, protesters called for an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination. They also want Google to commit to ending pay inequity and to create a publicly disclosed sexual harassment report and a clearer process for reporting complaints.

The organisers said Google has publicly championed diversity and inclusion but hasn't take enough action.

The protests are the latest backlash against men's exploitation of female subordinates in business, entertainment, technology and politics. In Silicon Valley, women also are becoming fed up with the male-dominated composition of the technology industry's workforce - an imbalance that critics say fosters frat-house behaviour by men.

The Google protest unfolded a week after a New York Times story detailed allegations of sexual misconduct about the creator of Google's Android software, Andy Rubin. The report said Rubin received a US$90 million severance package in 2014 after Google concluded that the sexual misconduct allegations against him were credible.

Rubin denied the allegations in a tweet.