Are you not proving my point by bringing the conversation back to "how will unionization impact engineers"? > Before going all-in on unions, consider if you’re

Are you not proving my point by bringing the conversation back to "how will unionization impact engineers"? > Before going all-in on unions, consider if you’re ready to start making it harder for Googlers to get fired or make it more difficult for someone to get promoted based on their work rather than seniority (number of years worked). There _are_ issues around Google employees being terminated unfairly -- mostly around those who dare to speak out (most recently and notably, Dr. Gebru). While I do think that poor performers should be fired regardless of seniority, I also think that the current process for identifying and removing poor performers is both inefficient and, frankly, cruel. After receiving poor performance ratings, an engineer may have responsibilities slashed (thereby making it more difficult to demonstrate level-appropriate impact) and put onto a performance improvement plan (to demonstrate impact, but also siloed from the rest of the team). To add insult to injury, due to performance ratings, the engineer will have compensation slashed to effectively the salary band for a lower level. If the engineer does not meet the lofty goals by the end of the 3-month period, management may offer an ultimatum: take this severance package and voluntarily resign, or go through the review that you most likely will fail, and get nothing when you're fired. Meanwhile, it can take two performance cycles (i.e. a full year) to identify and remove poor performers, during which time said poor performer can drag down an entire team. It is already a meme at Google that the easiest way to achieve L+1 (i.e. get promoted) is to leave and re-apply at a higher level after a year or two at a different company. While I don't advocate promoting primarily based on seniority, I _do_ think Google does need to invest more on building up leadership by promoting from within, rather than encouraging people who want to break into senior leadership to leave Google.