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Please answer truthfully. If this sit in were by a group of employees protesting climate change effects of Google’s data-centers and rampant, unrestricted and

Please answer truthfully. If this sit in were by a group of employees protesting climate change effects of Google’s data-centers and rampant, unrestricted and frivolous training of neural networks by Google employees, will HR do this?

fasthands9 3y ago
You could also ask what would happen if the group was pro-Trump, pro-life, or anti-affirmative action, all of which are positions with more support than anti-Israel protests. They would also be fired. As awful as these groups are, they generally do not routinely feel entitled to disrupt their own* workspaces. I don't deny your point that a more popular position may get more lenient treatment, but I also can't remember any of these groups attempting this so boldly so seems like a moot point. edit: added "their own" for clarity
- disqard 3y ago
  I don't know any more details than what I've seen in public news sites. My understanding is that they disrupted office operations. That automatically allows their employer to (rightfully) claim that they broke some fundamental rules of the employee handbook, and therefore forms grounds for termination. Hypothetical: If they (say) held up the lunch line in one of the cafes ("people are starving in Gaza, no one here should eat either" or somesuch reasoning) -- would that also incur such censure? I'd wager the answer is "yes". P.S. If they had gathered in (say) a nearby park, Google would have a much weaker basis for taking such action.
  - richrichie 3y ago
    My question is if the disruption was in the name of climate change, will they fire them? I bet they won’t dare.
    - habinero 3y ago
      Ahaha. Of course they would dare.
    - bawolff 3y ago
      I feel like they would. Companies usually take a dim view of employees trying to actively interfere with the company's business dealings.
- tedivm 3y ago
  While I see your point, I think the idea that pro-life groups aren't disrupting workplaces is very wrong. Pro-Life groups constantly protest at abortion clinics, where people absolutely do work. Sometimes they even bomb them. Again, I get your point, but that's a very bad example (unless you meant "disrupt their own workspaces") which is a bit different.
  - bawolff 3y ago
    > (unless you meant "disrupt their own workspaces") From context, i think this is obviously what was meant.
  - mypalmike 3y ago
    This is comparing apples to zebras. Abortion clinic workers aren't protesting abortion clinics.
  - fasthands9 3y ago
    That is what I meant. An abortion clinic cannot fire you from your job at Google. And Google would not fire people from protesting at an abortion clinic, or from protesting Israel in a public space. If you got hired by an abortion clinic and realized you cannot in good conscious help perform abortions, just leave instead of playing victim. An abortion clinic would fire you if you disrupted the work of helping people receive medical care related to abortions. And Google would fire you if you disrupted the work of Google and its projects.
darthrupert 3y ago
None of those things seem to be protesting directly at the work they have been hired to do.
- vineyardmike 3y ago
  Many of them were Google Cloud employees protesting the military use of Google Cloud. So they were protesting their own work's use. (They were also protesting working conditions, which obviously impact employees). Regardless of your view of the actual topic being protested, they were (relatively) peaceful - they staged a "sit in". They disrupted executives - key decision makers - but they didn't directly try to disrupt regular rank-and-file employees who don't have power to make decisions. > Protesters in Sunnyvale sat in [Google Cloud CEO's] office for more than nine hours until their arrests, writing demands on [his] whiteboard and wearing shirts that read “Googler against genocide.” Obviously activism at work will be reprimanded, surely they knew, but it seemed to draw the attention they want. I think we should be careful when we mock or belittle protestors as if they're naive. America has a long history of protesting for (perceived) social good. There aren't many causes I'd risk my cushy job for, but I respect people who make sacrifices for fighting for what they believe in, especially if no one gets hurt.
  - quickslowdown 3y ago
    Pinkerton propaganda and slavish devotion to a corporation run deep in America's blood.
pyuser583 3y ago
If you want to “protest climate chamge”, HR would probably be open to a carefully planned and choreographed event. They might even hire a resident performance artist to have continual “guerilla performance art” raising climate change awareness on the companies dime, with voluntary participation by employees. They would not allow an unplanned and unapproved occupation of executive offices.
mrkeen 3y ago
It wouldn't have made it to a sit-in. HR would have slurped up all the planning messages and dismissed the trouble makers beforehand.

fasthands9 3y ago

You could also ask what would happen if the group was pro-Trump, pro-life, or anti-affirmative action, all of which are positions with more support than anti-Israel protests. They would also be fired. As awful as these groups are, they generally do not routinely feel entitled to disrupt their own* workspaces. I don't deny your point that a more popular position may get more lenient treatment, but I also can't remember any of these groups attempting this so boldly so seems like a moot point. edit: added "their own" for clarity

disqard 3y ago
I don't know any more details than what I've seen in public news sites. My understanding is that they disrupted office operations. That automatically allows their employer to (rightfully) claim that they broke some fundamental rules of the employee handbook, and therefore forms grounds for termination. Hypothetical: If they (say) held up the lunch line in one of the cafes ("people are starving in Gaza, no one here should eat either" or somesuch reasoning) -- would that also incur such censure? I'd wager the answer is "yes". P.S. If they had gathered in (say) a nearby park, Google would have a much weaker basis for taking such action.
- richrichie 3y ago
  My question is if the disruption was in the name of climate change, will they fire them? I bet they won’t dare.
  - habinero 3y ago
    Ahaha. Of course they would dare.
  - bawolff 3y ago
    I feel like they would. Companies usually take a dim view of employees trying to actively interfere with the company's business dealings.
tedivm 3y ago
While I see your point, I think the idea that pro-life groups aren't disrupting workplaces is very wrong. Pro-Life groups constantly protest at abortion clinics, where people absolutely do work. Sometimes they even bomb them. Again, I get your point, but that's a very bad example (unless you meant "disrupt their own workspaces") which is a bit different.
- bawolff 3y ago
  > (unless you meant "disrupt their own workspaces") From context, i think this is obviously what was meant.
- mypalmike 3y ago
  This is comparing apples to zebras. Abortion clinic workers aren't protesting abortion clinics.
- fasthands9 3y ago
  That is what I meant. An abortion clinic cannot fire you from your job at Google. And Google would not fire people from protesting at an abortion clinic, or from protesting Israel in a public space. If you got hired by an abortion clinic and realized you cannot in good conscious help perform abortions, just leave instead of playing victim. An abortion clinic would fire you if you disrupted the work of helping people receive medical care related to abortions. And Google would fire you if you disrupted the work of Google and its projects.

darthrupert 3y ago

None of those things seem to be protesting directly at the work they have been hired to do.

vineyardmike 3y ago
Many of them were Google Cloud employees protesting the military use of Google Cloud. So they were protesting their own work's use. (They were also protesting working conditions, which obviously impact employees). Regardless of your view of the actual topic being protested, they were (relatively) peaceful - they staged a "sit in". They disrupted executives - key decision makers - but they didn't directly try to disrupt regular rank-and-file employees who don't have power to make decisions. > Protesters in Sunnyvale sat in [Google Cloud CEO's] office for more than nine hours until their arrests, writing demands on [his] whiteboard and wearing shirts that read “Googler against genocide.” Obviously activism at work will be reprimanded, surely they knew, but it seemed to draw the attention they want. I think we should be careful when we mock or belittle protestors as if they're naive. America has a long history of protesting for (perceived) social good. There aren't many causes I'd risk my cushy job for, but I respect people who make sacrifices for fighting for what they believe in, especially if no one gets hurt.
- quickslowdown 3y ago
  Pinkerton propaganda and slavish devotion to a corporation run deep in America's blood.

pyuser583 3y ago

If you want to “protest climate chamge”, HR would probably be open to a carefully planned and choreographed event. They might even hire a resident performance artist to have continual “guerilla performance art” raising climate change awareness on the companies dime, with voluntary participation by employees. They would not allow an unplanned and unapproved occupation of executive offices.

mrkeen 3y ago

It wouldn't have made it to a sit-in. HR would have slurped up all the planning messages and dismissed the trouble makers beforehand.