Google workers stage walkout at Zurich office to protest layoffs
Nearly 2,500 offered to reduce wages to avoid job cuts
Hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout at the company's Zurich office in Switzerland on Wednesday, after more than 200 lost their jobs due to mass layoffs.
The IT union Syndicom, which represents a group of Google employees, announced the walkout. Employees urged the company to talk to workers and explore alternative options to layoffs in a "comprehensive and thoughtful" manner.
Syndicom is demanding that, in the event of unavoidable redundancies, the company minimises the impact on affected employees by providing an acceptable social plan.
For example, Google Zurich employs a significant number of non-EU nationals, whose right to live in Switzerland would expire if they were laid off.
Syndicom says employees' efforts to negotiate with Google, to find a solution that would prevent job losses, were unsuccessful. Among the solutions rejected was one involving about 2,500 employees offering to reduce their wages and working hours, to save the company money.
Those who participated in the walkout rallied behind the slogan, "We walk out for those who can't walk back in."
"Our members at Google Zurich and all employees joining the walkout are showing solidarity with those laid off," a Syndicom representative said.
Like several other tech companies, Google announced layoffs in January due to overhiring during the pandemic and the ongoing global economic downturn.
CEO Sundar Pichai said 12,000 workers worldwide, which is equivalent to 6% of the company's global workforce, would be laid off.
Those 12,000 included more than 200 from Google's Zurich office, which employs a total of 5,000 people.
Syndicom criticised Google for a lack of transparency around the layoffs. It also noted that Alphabet, Google's parent company, earned a net profit of nearly $60 billion last year and had a market capitalisation of $1.2 trillion.
A spokesperson from Google told Reuters that the company had made the cuts to align the number of roles with its top priorities.
"The consultation process has now concluded in Switzerland and employees whose roles were impacted have been notified," they added.
Google recently announced it would be implementing a desk-sharing scheme for its Google Cloud employees, in a drive to increase efficiency.
Despite its high market cap, Alphabet has been impacted by the sluggish global economy and strong dollar.
Moreover, the emergence of AI chatbot ChatGPT and image generator DALL-E2, which could potentially threaten AI ventures like DeepMind, has also reportedly shaken the company.
Google treated the emergence of ChatGPT as 'code red' last year, and reassigned several departments to help develop and release new AI prototypes and products.