Nearly 100 Google employees gathered on a grassy stretch of the company’s Mountain View campus on Thursday, sandwiched between the Googleplex and the visitor centre, holding signs that read “Googlers for Job Security.” Many wore matching black shirts. Others unfurled a long white banner carrying the names of more than 4,500 employees who had signed a petition demanding stronger protection against layoffs—a document the Alphabet Workers Union describes as the largest single piece of employee feedback Google has ever received on job security.The petition, addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai and three senior executives, asks for guaranteed severance, voluntary exit packages before any forced cuts, an end to performance quotas, and the option to take severance as extended paid leave. Union president Parul Koul didn’t mince words about why the fight matters at a company sitting on a $4 trillion valuation. “Make no mistake: this is a company that is enjoying massive, unprecedented success,” she told the crowd. “These layoffs and cuts are not difficult decisions, but simply profit being put over the people that make this company run.”
Google layoffs petition delivered to Sundar Pichai’s office behind closed doors
The delivery began early. Around 9 a.m., roughly 20 workers walked the petition to the offices of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and senior vice presidents Rick Osterloh and Nick Fox, before heading to Pichai’s office. None of the executives were there. So the group slipped copies under their doors and left the rest with a staff member who promised to pass it along. Koul said employees tried to hand Pichai a version last year, got no real response, and came back with more than double the signatures.
Alphabet Workers Union shifts from Google ethics protests to AI-era job security
For a workforce famous for pushing back on ethics—Project Maven in 2018, the 20,000-strong walkout over sexual-misconduct handling, the Project Nimbus sit-ins—the shift toward bread-and-butter job security is telling. Google cut 12,000 jobs in 2023 and has run several smaller rounds since, leaving employees bracing for the next notice. Software engineer Nobel Barakat put it plainly at the rally: he sees people grateful to still have work, quietly grinding longer days in the hope of dodging a sudden poor rating.The AI build-out looms over all of it. Alphabet has pledged massive capital spending on data centres, and management has begun folding “AI fluency” into performance metrics—criteria that engineer Dan Freedman says feel underspecified and vaguely threatening. After AI landed in his job requirements, he told reporters he worries he isn’t using it enough and could be replaced. “I have to wonder if I’m next,” he said.
Google voluntary exit packages: The one union win keeping the campaign alive
The union isn’t starting from zero. Since the campaign began, Google has offered voluntary exit packages to more than 70,000 employees—a program Pichai has publicly credited to listening to staff, saying it gives people agency. Koul notes that figure counts those eligible, not those who accepted. Still, no other large tech company has adopted it, and the union treats it as proof that organising works.As TV cameras rolled, workers raised their signs and chanted: “Google, Google, can’t you see? We deserve security.” Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. AWU, currently a minority union of around 1,400 members, says the pressure won’t let up.