Google workers in Switzerland stage walk out to protest against mass layoffs

250 Google employees in the Switzerland office staged a walkout to protest after the company laid off 12,000 employees last month, according to a report by Bloomberg. The Alphabet Inc. company had announced that it would be making a 6 per cent reduction in its global workforce.

According to a report by Bloomberg, 250 employees at the Zurich office walked away from their desks before their lunch break and assembled with placards outside the office. The employees had the support of their trade union, Syndicom.

It is rare for workers at tech companies to stage a walkout. This is similar to the protests against job cuts in New York and California earlier this month.

What did the employees want?

The employees asked Google to engage in dialogue with an employee committee regarding alternatives to job cuts and follow Swiss law. They also asked foreign nationals to support them as their residency is tied to their employment. Additionally, they have asked the company to refrain from job cuts.

A Google spokesperson speaking to Bloomberg said, "We know this is an uncertain time for our employees, and we are working hard to share updates as soon as we can in line with local labor law." He also added that, as the process is ongoing, the company is not in a position to comment on it.

Layoffs

After Google announced the plan to lay off 12,000 employees it joined other tech giants like Meta and Amazon in scaling back operations due to rising inflation and weakening global economy. According to Layoff.fyi's latest data, over a quarter million professionals have been laid off since the beginning of 2022 in US-based tech companies. In this year alone 95,000 employees have been fired.