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Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

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Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#331

Post by seabird »

bjourne wrote: post #209
devsda wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At almost every company I've worked over the years, I had to go through countless mandatory annual trainings that effectively says expressing opinions on non work related subjective political topics with coworkers/employer is not advisable, risky and can be grounds for termination in extreme cases. Either these people genuinely believed there was scope for discussion, or believed their opinion/choice of topic is a PR…

What country and what company made you undergo these "countless" training sessions? I suspect you are making stuff up.

Extremely common in corporate America. I had to click through more of them than I can count, luckily the service my employer did it through would let you skip to the end of the videos and blow through it faster. I don't understand why routine CYA being done is so hard to believe.

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#332

Post by plokiju »

bjourne wrote: post #283
devsda wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No thanks. I'm not really keen on doxxing myself. But hey, if you are an IT employee and haven't had to go through those annoying trainings I'd be surprised and a little jealous.

Well, if you aren't keen on doxxing yourself you shouldn't use arguments that require the reader to trust you. Internet is full of liars who claim to be everything from astronauts, to law professors, to IT employees who have gone through "countless mandatory annual trainings that effectively says expressing opinions on non work related subjective political topics with coworkers/employer is not advisable". I have not…

I'm honestly shocked you're skeptical about this

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#333

Post by worried4future »

smsm42 wrote: post #306
racional wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-s…

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.

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.

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#334

Post by worried4future »

racional wrote: post #295
worried4future wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 me…

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-s…

His commentary isn't the exonerating statement you seem to think it is.

By his own admission he sought to join 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) and spent an indeterminate amount of time talking with protestors the first time around (I talked to folks who were standing up, passing out flyers, doing other roles)

Anyway it doesn't matter if he spent 40 minutes talking to them, four hours talking to them or 4 minutes talking to them

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#335

Post by worried4future »

jimbob45 wrote: post #307
racional wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-s…

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…

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.

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#336

Post by edmundsauto »

smsm42 wrote: post #308
siva7 wrote: post #147

> “There’s been a total change in the way Google responds to employees trying to have a voice in their workplace,” the fired software engineer said. “It’s night and day from the Google of even five, 10 years ago.” Having a political voice is different than having a voice against sexual harassment at the workplace. Please don't mix things that don't belong together. Radically expressing your political voice during you…

> Radically expressing your political voice during your job duties will get you fired in almost all companies That very much depends on which political voice it is. If it's within approved voices, which lies very heavily to the left, then you'll be likely celebrated. But if you take it too far left - or, horrible dictu, a little to the right - then you'd get the boot. It's been like this 10 years ago and is now, it's…

What is the generalizable evidence you base this opinion on? Surely you must have access to a database of the real reasons someone was fired across all of tech?

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#337

Post by racional »

worried4future wrote: post #335
jimbob45 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

How is "checking out a protest" while on one's lunch break disruptive?

If you read the original article it specifically says he sought out the protestors

He was being "Googley" and curious, in other words. And got whacked for it.

From some random snippet attempting to define that nonsense term:

Googleyness is about embracing the unknown. Not just tolerating the unfamiliar, but really appreciating it. Celebrating finding yourself in a place you didn’t expect. Finding the joy in being surprised and dealing with unforeseen circumstances instead of resisting the reality you now occupy

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#338

Post by themaninthedark »

theossuary wrote: post #215
tekla wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told that speech had consequences and anything but the Govt literally silencing you was ok for decades. Damn. I guess that NOW HN cares about free speech, after highly paid fellows get fired from their jobs for doing dumb shit

You have it backwards. There's a huge backlash when somebody's fired for being racist, or homophobic, or transphobic. Now anti-authoritarian protestors are being doxxed, fired and arrested; yet I haven't heard a peep from those people who "believe in free speech."

I don't know, bjourne has been pretty vocal and he keeps getting downvoted.

I also believe they should be allowed to express their views at work and that is consistent with my views in the past.

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#339

Post by buffington »

bjourne wrote: post #209
devsda wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At almost every company I've worked over the years, I had to go through countless mandatory annual trainings that effectively says expressing opinions on non work related subjective political topics with coworkers/employer is not advisable, risky and can be grounds for termination in extreme cases. Either these people genuinely believed there was scope for discussion, or believed their opinion/choice of topic is a PR…

What country and what company made you undergo these "countless" training sessions? I suspect you are making stuff up.

United States. Every 6 months, mandatory courses exactly as GP described. If you refuse, you don't have a job. This is so absolutely normal for most tech and finance companies, and has been for years, that I'm utterly astonished that you believe the GP is making it up. Hell, even my fast food working niece has to do these courses!

Re: Google workers fired for protesting Israeli contract file NLRB complaint

#340

Post by weatherlite »

someotherperson wrote: post #289
weatherlite wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the deal with the ethnostate ? I mean, why is a Palestinian ethnostate a good thing but a Jewish ethnostate is horrible?

Nobody advocates for a Palestinian ethnostate, it's a concession that was made to resolve the issues after the Jewish refusal of a bi-national solution that would have Jews as the minority.

Most Palestinians want a Palestinian ethnostate from the river to the sea.
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