Google’s ‘Thanksgiving Four’ to File Federal Labor Complaint
- Fired engineers claim Google is suppressing worker organizing
- NLRB case may escalate tensions between management and workers
Four software engineers fired by Google last week plan to file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, in which they will argue they were the victims of illegal retaliation for workplace activism. The move would further escalate a conflict between the search giant’s management and its staff that has been simmering for over a year.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google dismissed the four employees on Nov. 25. In an email distributed to its staff, the company cited “clear and repeated violations” of data security policies, saying the engineers had accessed documents “outside the scope of their jobs.” The employees — Rebecca Rivers, Laurence Berland, Paul Duke, and Sophie Waldman — disputed those allegations in an interview with Bloomberg News. They said were fired for organizing opposition to Google’s work with federal Customs and Border Protection, and for other workplace advocacy.