"Googlers Against Greed" Rally Against Layoffs

Members of the Alphabet Workers Union held a rally in front of one of the company's NYC Google Store locations yesterday, protesting the recent layoffs of thousands of co-workers. Last month, the company announced the largest reduction in its history—12,000 positions, or 6% of its global workforce. Yesterday's protest began just minutes after parent company Alphabet Inc. reported fourth-quarter results, including $13.6 billion in profit.

“Today, Google has debunked its own rationale for laying off 12,000 of our co-workers,” said Alberta Devor, a software engineer. “It is clear that the menial savings the company is pocketing from laying off workers is nothing in comparison to the billions spent on stock buybacks or the billions made in profit last quarter.”

Workers at Google and other Alphabet companies announced the creation of the Alphabet Workers Union in 2021 with support from the Communications Workers of America (CWA)—the first of its kind in the company’s history. The union is part of CWA’s CODE-CWA (Coalition to Organize Digital Employees) project. Read more about yesterday's rally from Bloomberg and follow the Alphabet Workers Union for updates!