Google workers stage walkout to protest sexual misconduct
Employee group says 47 offices participated
Thousands of Google workers walked out of offices around the world to protest how the tech giant has handled sexual misconduct by some of its top executives.
Starting in Asia and spreading across Europe, photos posted with the hashtag Googlewalkout began flooding Twitter as employees gathered outside Google offices in Zurich, Dublin, Singapore, London and Hyderabad, India.
In the U.S., walkouts around the country began at 11:10 a.m. in New York, including at Google’s Manhattan offices and in Atlanta. The employee group Google Walkout For Real Change said 47 offices worldwide were participating in the walkout Thursday.
The mass walkout was sparked by a recent New York Times report that said Google gave millions of dollars to some executives in secret exit packages after they were accused of sexual misconduct. The article, published last week, said Andy Rubin, the brainchild of the Android mobile software, was given a $90 million exit package after the company verified a misconduct claim against him was credible.
Streams of Google employees poured out of buildings at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters at 11 a.m. local time and headed toward the heart of the campus.
“We’re here because we want an equal and fair workplace for all,” Sadia Nahreen, a Google employee, said in an interview. “I was surprised by the reports.’’
Earlier in New York, hundreds of Google employees streamed out of the office in Chelsea and gathered in Hudson River Park, attracting dozens of onlookers, a swarm of television cameras and police officers.
Thomas Kneeland, a software engineer at Google in New York, said he took part in the protest because “letting executives walk away with bucketloads of cash after a sexual misconduct allegation” is immoral and should be stopped.