Google accused of 'appalling treatment' of workers and 'union busting’ as hundreds staged walkout today

Unions have called-out Google for having an ‘appalling’ attitude to unionised staff as hundreds of employees protested outside the company’s headquarters in London today.

Protesters staged the lunchtime walkout outside Google’s Kings Cross HQ in response to the company’s handling of layoffs and redundancy disputes, following the company’s decision to reduce their workforce by approximately 12,000 roles globally in January.

Since then, unions have accused Google of ‘union bashing’ and of an ‘appaling treatment’ to the hundreds of UK workers who face redundancies.

Unite the Union said Google management were ignoring concerns put by elected Unite workplace representatives and that the company was closing the collective consultation process on redundancy plans.  

According to Unite, Google has refused to hear grievances on the redundancy process put forward by individuals and said the company is holding one-to-one consultations with workers and refusing to allow union representatives to be present during the meetings.

More than a thousand new members from Google joined the union in the last few months alone since the layoffs announcement.

United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) union branch of the CWU has also criticised Google for using ‘ruthless’ leadership, which they accused of asserting power over workers and fixating on growth targets, at the expense of talented and committed staff.  

At the protest today, employees held up a banner highlighting the company’s immense wealth, with Google amassing nearly $280 billion in revenue in 2022.

Talking to LFF, Unite regional officer Matt Whaley said they were asking Google to ‘stop being evil’ and accused the company of ‘union busting’.

“Their strap line used to be ‘don’t be evil’,” Whaley told LFF. “But the way they’re treating people in this process is appalling.

“We’ve tried, our members have tried, to engage through the collective consultation process to try and improve on these proposals, to try and reduce the headcount, to try and ensure that people who want to stay in the business can stay, and that maybe people that want to leave through voluntary redundancy are allowed to go.

“And they’ve completely refused all of that. They haven’t addressed the issues around pooling and how people have been selected in this process for redundancy.”

Speaking about the effects on Google employees, Whaley said it had been ‘very stressful’, which was backed up by a series of testimonies read out at the protest of workers who had lost faith in their employer.

Whaley said: “Some people are neurodiverse, some people English isn’t their first language, and many of them haven’t found themselves in a redundancy situation before.

“And when you’re in these meetings, they’re very stressful.

“You want someone in your corner that knows what they’re talking about, knows the process, and can maybe cut through some of the script and the legal jargon that you can have either a HR manager or a manager read out to you. And they’re just refusing that.”

Whether they recognize trade unions or not, most employers in the UK allow a union representative to accompany people to redundancy meetings Whaley said, and added that this represents a sudden change in approach from Google.

“I’ve been into this building several times with members about individual grievances, with all kinds of problems, and it’s been fine, but all of a sudden, we grow in membership, and they don’t want us in the building.

“I think that can only be one thing, and that’s union busting.”

Unions are calling on the company to give individuals the right to be accompanied to consultation meetings with a union representative.

They are also asking Google to disclose how marginalised groups have been impacted by the ongoing redundancy process, and to reverse their decision to only cover the cost of legal representation in cases where representation has been “pre-approved” by the company.

In response to the protest, a Google spokesperson said: “We know this is a very challenging time for our employees.

“In the UK, we have been constructively engaging and listening to our employees through numerous meetings, and are working hard to bring them clarity and share updates as soon as we can in adherence with all UK processes and legal requirements.”

Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward

Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust

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