Google employees in London offices stage walkout over mass layoffs

Google's London offices were rocked on Tuesday as hundreds of employees staged a walkout in protest over the company's recent layoff of 12,000 workers worldwide. The move has sparked a wave of job cuts across the tech sector, with more than 2,90,000 workers losing their jobs since the start of the year, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

Trade union Unite, which represents hundreds of Google's UK employees, accused the company of ignoring their concerns and demanded full union representation, proper consultation, and fair treatment of workers. According to a report by Reuters, the Unite regional officer Matt Whaley said, "Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil. They and Unite will not back down until Google treats its staff with the respect and dignity they deserve."

The report cites a Google employee who claimed that talks with management had been "extremely frustrating." The employee further added, "It feels as if our concerns have fallen on deaf ears."

Last month, workers at Google's Zurich office in Switzerland staged a similar walkout after the company rejected their proposals to reduce job cuts. Google employs more than 5,000 people in the United Kingdom.

Google Layoffs

In January, Google announced its plans to lay off around 12,000 workers globally. The round of layoffs began in the US following Sundar Pichai’s public announcement. The search giant has laid off roughly 450 employees from the India division after the announcement. 

The timing of layoffs also coincides with a lackluster debut of the Google Bard AI. The ChatGPT-rival made a factual error during the presentation leading to a wipe-out of $100 billion in Google's valuation. 

In a bid to save on expenses, Google has also decided to cut down some services for employees including frequency of updating laptops as well as saving on small expenses such as staplers and snacks.  

Read the entire story here: Google cuts down employee services like laptops, staplers and others after laying off 12,000 workers in Jan 

Also read: Apple layoffs: After Google, Amazon, Meta the iPhone maker may start laying off employees