Nearly 100 Google employees protested at headquarters, demanding voluntary exits and guaranteed severance. The union's petition has 4,500 signatures. The protest comes as job security concerns grow.
Nearly 100 Google employees gathered outside the company's Mountain View headquarters Thursday, holding signs and chanting for job security. The protest, organized by the Alphabet Workers Union, called for stronger protections against layoffs. The union has collected more than 4,500 signatures on a petition addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai and three senior executives, Business Insider reported.
The demonstration shows a shift in Google's workplace culture. Once known for pushing management on ethics and corporate policy, employees are now organizing around job security as the company has conducted repeated layoffs since 2023. Google cut 12,000 jobs in 2023 and has since run several smaller rounds, affecting thousands of employees. The company's workforce of nearly 191,000 people has seen mounting anxiety over performance systems and the impact of AI on their roles.
Parul Koul, a Google software engineer and president of the union, told the crowd the group wants voluntary exits before layoffs and guaranteed severance standards. It also demands an end to performance quotas. The petition, first written in early 2025, asks Google to guarantee severance for every laid-off worker, offer voluntary exit packages before mandatory cuts, end forced-distribution performance ratings, and let employees receive severance as extended paid leave.
Kaylee Lubick, a Google software engineer and union member, said about 20 workers began delivering the petition around 9 a.m. Thursday. They visited the offices of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and senior vice presidents Rick Osterloh and Nick Fox, then went to Pichai's office. The executives were not there, and the employees slipped the petition under their doors, Lubick told Business Insider.
Speakers at the protest described a workplace reshaped by layoffs. “I see worried people, grateful to still have a job, do the best they can to keep it,” said Nobel Barakat, a Google software engineer. “I've seen people work longer and longer days with the hopes that they avoid a sudden poor performance rating.”
Matthew Hoffman, a Google DeepMind engineer, said he joined to show support even though he had not been personally affected. “I think I realized that just because something hasn't affected you personally doesn't mean it won't someday,” he said.
The protest drew on Google's history of employee activism. In 2018, more than 4,000 workers opposed Project Maven, a Pentagon contract using AI for drone footage. Later that year, roughly 20,000 employees walked out over handling of sexual-misconduct allegations. In 2024, Google fired workers after sit-ins protesting Project Nimbus, a cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government.
The union says Google offered voluntary exit packages to more than 70,000 workers across several rounds since the campaign began. Koul told Business Insider that figure reflects the number of employees eligible for the offers, not the number who accepted.
Google did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
At Microsoft, which has also cut jobs, the Alpha Score sits at 61, a moderate reading. The broader tech sector continues to face pressure to manage costs while investing in AI.
“We have the power to change things for ourselves,” Koul said. “The only thing preventing us is how organized we are.”
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