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This is a gross misreading of what the article actually said. The real meat the article (as reflected very clearly in its original title, not the mangled capti

This is a gross misreading of what the article actually said. The real meat the article (as reflected very clearly in its original title, not the mangled caption that was unfortunately used for the post; and throughout the article body itself) is that Google apparently fired some 20+ employees who either weren't involved the protest at all, or whose alleged participation remains unclear. As if the higher-ups got together and said to each other: "Ya know, 28 heads just isn't enough. We need to go out and bust some more, to you know, make a point. Plus there's that sound their skull makes when hitting the pavement. I just can't enough of it!" Google might dispute this - then again Google lies about a lot of things. We'll see how the complaint process goes. Either way you're going off on an ancilliary aspect of the article, not its main thrust.

worried4future 2y ago
> Google apparently fired some 20+ employees who either weren't involved the protest at all, or whose alleged participation remains unclear Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but there is deep information asymmetry here and google has all the advantage and must have anticipated that this would end up in discovery and litigation and that the records of the terminated people's employment would be subject to it. That means their chat history, their email history and office surveillance footage. I have a hard time believing that google would have fired people where the sum of their recorded actions couldn't be reasonably construed to be disruptive.
- racional 2y ago
  I have a hard time believing that google would have fired people where the sum of their recorded actions couldn't be reasonably construed to be disruptive. From the article: “When I got there, there were probably 20-ish people sitting on the floor. I didn’t talk to any of them, I talked to folks who were standing up, passing out flyers, doing other roles,” he said, adding that the protesters were wearing matching T-shirts. The worker then went back to his desk before returning to the protest around 5PM. “I chatted with them for maybe four minutes, like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re still sitting here! How’s it going?’” he said. Then, he finished the workday from a nearby couch. The worker says he returned to Google the following day without incident. That night, while at dinner, he got an email from Google saying he had been terminated.
  - smsm42 2y ago
    Maybe that what's happened. Or maybe this person forgot to mention some details about something else they did at that day, due to a random lapse of memory without doubt. The point is we have no way to know, based on the words of one, very non-disinterested, side.
    - worried4future 2y ago
      And, as I pointed out in my original comment, google has massive information asymmetry here. They have video and email and message history and badge access times and maybe audio recording and maybe more, who knows. So far we only have this one person's recollection of the events, where he has a huge bias towards trying to minimize his involvement.
  - jimbob45 2y ago
    I wish we had a HN equivalent for the HR crowd because I find situations like this fascinating. HR is going to have to come up with a policy for how coworkers interact with protesters without getting fired because some level of interaction is necessary. If someone is in your office, you're going to need a "Hey, what's going on?", "Can you move over a bit so I can sit at my desk?", and "So what are you guys protesting?". A blanket ban on all interaction won't work because guys like this will get canned but by the same token, you can't have people toeing the line going in and out and pretending to interact so they can stay in the area without having their jobs threatened.
    - worried4future 2y ago
      Nonsense. If you read the original article it specifically says he sought out the protestors. > he went to the lounge on the 10th floor of Google’s New York City office around lunchtime to check out the protest. Is a single google cafeteria/lounge employee being terminated for happening to be in the lounge when the protest happened? Of course not because that would be nonsense.
      - racional 2y ago
6510 2y ago
Reminds me of the Chinese social credit system. Having an opinion is terrible, talking with someone who has an opinion is arguably worse! That is how the disease spreads! The signal is that you should cover your ears and run away.
smsm42 2y ago
> who either weren't involved the protest at all, Or at least they say that. Which may or may not be true. Maybe google is lying, maybe they are lying. I imagine if NLRB asks, Google will be willing to provide the grounds for firing and we'd know who is the liar here.

worried4future 2y ago

> Google apparently fired some 20+ employees who either weren't involved the protest at all, or whose alleged participation remains unclear Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but there is deep information asymmetry here and google has all the advantage and must have anticipated that this would end up in discovery and litigation and that the records of the terminated people's employment would be subject to it. That means their chat history, their email history and office surveillance footage. I have a hard time believing that google would have fired people where the sum of their recorded actions couldn't be reasonably construed to be disruptive.

racional 2y ago
I have a hard time believing that google would have fired people where the sum of their recorded actions couldn't be reasonably construed to be disruptive. From the article: “When I got there, there were probably 20-ish people sitting on the floor. I didn’t talk to any of them, I talked to folks who were standing up, passing out flyers, doing other roles,” he said, adding that the protesters were wearing matching T-shirts. The worker then went back to his desk before returning to the protest around 5PM. “I chatted with them for maybe four minutes, like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re still sitting here! How’s it going?’” he said. Then, he finished the workday from a nearby couch. The worker says he returned to Google the following day without incident. That night, while at dinner, he got an email from Google saying he had been terminated.
- smsm42 2y ago
  Maybe that what's happened. Or maybe this person forgot to mention some details about something else they did at that day, due to a random lapse of memory without doubt. The point is we have no way to know, based on the words of one, very non-disinterested, side.
  - worried4future 2y ago
    And, as I pointed out in my original comment, google has massive information asymmetry here. They have video and email and message history and badge access times and maybe audio recording and maybe more, who knows. So far we only have this one person's recollection of the events, where he has a huge bias towards trying to minimize his involvement.
- jimbob45 2y ago
  I wish we had a HN equivalent for the HR crowd because I find situations like this fascinating. HR is going to have to come up with a policy for how coworkers interact with protesters without getting fired because some level of interaction is necessary. If someone is in your office, you're going to need a "Hey, what's going on?", "Can you move over a bit so I can sit at my desk?", and "So what are you guys protesting?". A blanket ban on all interaction won't work because guys like this will get canned but by the same token, you can't have people toeing the line going in and out and pretending to interact so they can stay in the area without having their jobs threatened.
  - worried4future 2y ago
    Nonsense. If you read the original article it specifically says he sought out the protestors. > he went to the lounge on the 10th floor of Google’s New York City office around lunchtime to check out the protest. Is a single google cafeteria/lounge employee being terminated for happening to be in the lounge when the protest happened? Of course not because that would be nonsense.
    - racional 2y ago

6510 2y ago

Reminds me of the Chinese social credit system. Having an opinion is terrible, talking with someone who has an opinion is arguably worse! That is how the disease spreads! The signal is that you should cover your ears and run away.

smsm42 2y ago

> who either weren't involved the protest at all, Or at least they say that. Which may or may not be true. Maybe google is lying, maybe they are lying. I imagine if NLRB asks, Google will be willing to provide the grounds for firing and we'd know who is the liar here.