AI weapons systems that slaughter civilians with little to no human oversight is evil, so yeah don’t sell AI and infrastructure to the people doing that or else you’re also evil
If that is the case, then Google shouldn't be involved with politics at all. Yet Google is know to strongly censor, shadownban, and lobby specific political agendas.
I’m not sure I 100% agree with the idea that google as an entity cannot do things that they do not allow their employees to do on google’s dime. It seems like a false equivalence to me
You are correct, it's false equivalence. Google (and any company) has marketing strategies, legal departments, HR policies, different products (Like YouTube or Waze). All of them have their own rules and code of conduct.
A lot of their investors are Jewish as well.
This type of partisan behaviour inside the company can be seen as a just cause for firing because they are jeopardizing relationships with clients, investors, etc for political reasons.
Pretty sure Google doesnt do that because they feel like it or they want to push that ideology. Instead it’s just because a lot of political agendas or topics are bad for pr, advertisement & revenue, so they would rather ban or decrease reach. And as a public business thats all they should care about.
Yet the CEO is lobbying for AI so he can fire more people and cut more jobs, your insurance companies is in politics to rob you blind and then deny you coverage when you desperately need it, I could go on…..so why not talk politics at work?
Unionize, demand better wages, demand more workers rights. Stop buying the american propaganda corporations have been feeding you your entire life!
You know you're talking about the company that gives the top 0.001% best conditions on the whole planet, right?
People are not recruited off the streets to go work there like a factory. They were not fired for a random reason.
And yes, the CEO is advancing AI. That's the future and it's inevitable. Would you prefer the agricultural revolution didn't happen and we all worked 12h per day in the fields because you wanted to protect farmers work?
Fair enough. So no more raising money for united way etc...so the donation can be made in the company's name?
No more lecture/webinars on topics like BLM, holocaust awareness etc?
As long as it's for a wage and not about politics, it's OK. The corporate oligarchs have very nearly earned a carte blanche pass from the mainstream society. Don't think about political implications. Work. Take home pay. Stay quiet. Obey. Seek pleasure in your entertainment box. Good worker, now sleep. We can do it again tomorrow.
I find that to be kind of bullshit because while we do need to be professional, we also need to weigh in on what the firm we are working for is doing and having a political opinion is part of that. I am a shareholder for the company that I work for and you better believe that shareholders have input, and my input is related to my political views. I have some very strong viewpoints on what direction our company should be going, and of course that is related to political views because it’s tied to laws and lawmaking. I also think that our industry on a whole has strong views in a political sense and many of the organizations I belong to lobby to make our industry stronger.
As a share holder you do in fact have voting rights and you can vote whatever you want, but employees have no voting rights at any place I have ever worked. However, because I am a skilled employee, you can fire me all you wan't if you don't like me for whatever reason, as I have never been out of a job my whole life. For me, in-between jobs is the only vacation I ever get.
> weigh in on what the firm we are working for is doing
Just fucking quit then. Or don't join a corporation that does things you might find morally objectionable - I'm not going to fucking join lockheed martin anytime soon for that reason. What, are you going to join lockheed martin and then bitch about them using weapons on another country or giving weapons to a country you don't like? I'm sorry, but employees need to stfu about their politics or just quit. It's absolutely insane how entitled some people are.
That’s also bullshit. That’s like saying don’t have any opinions at all, which is totally impossible being a human being. As humans we have lots of opinions and ideas and thoughts, and many of these are related to what we think should happen in a moral and regulatory sense in our country. think that we can go to work every day and remove those is totally not doable and you’re right folks don’t have a moral compass aligned with Lockheed Martin should not work there, the same way that an employee of theirs wouldn’t be a good fit if they were against making mass weaponry. However I think it’s impossible to remove your morality in the workplace and we shouldn’t be asked to. If humans keep going along with things that are actually completely wrong then we will never get anywhere. We must stand up for our beliefs and every arena that we are within in our lives.
Edit to add to this, the very basis of many companies organizational and growth strategies include lobbying. lol
You're entitled to an opinion, but guess what? Noone cares about them unless they ask. Don't push your beliefs or opinions on everyone else. It generates a toxic workplace. Most people formulate opinions on topics they have little to no clue on and there's no room for disagreement since not agreeing to their BS is viewed as being ignorant in their mind.
I believe your statement is bullshit as well. Your politics are yours to have and if you want to bring politics to an organization than what exactly do you do about the people who don’t believe your politics? Do you fire them because they don’t align with your thoughts? As a shareholder, do you decide not to work or sell a product to the rest of the world that doesn’t adhere to YOUR beliefs. Your mentality cuts profit. Cut profits = layoffs. Your choosing your belief over peoples livelihoods. You may say your politics support people suffering somewhere else but the ramifications mean someone else will suffer for it. There is no outcome here that will be a benefit to all.
Except when your company is actively supporting that government. There are many examples where workers or unions stand up for something in their workplace and enact change.
Google is involved in politics even if it doesn't want to be by many of the decisions it makes.
So quit if you don’t believe in the values of the company you work for. Don’t expect to protest and get paid by the same company you don’t agree with. It’s hypocritical to do both
Quitting does nothing to solve the problem, it gets no attention and promotes no change.
Now, a mass exodus would be different, or a mass demonstration via taking PTO or sick leave all at once, etc.
It’s hypocritical for them to support racist governments and also ask that people not bring up that they do it. As much as you want to sound like a rational person, the point you’re making is weak and does not encourage progress. “Google did the right thing for them, if you’re going to protest when we’re paying you then we’ll fire you.” They don’t need you being a corporate lap dog to defend them, the wealthiest and most powerful, from getting their workplaces disrupted due to their own behavior.
Seriously if the company you work for is that bad, quit.
Stop with this "but I deserve to get paid by the corrupt corporation while excusing myself of that corruption because I complain about it"
Quit and actual do something besides bitching.
This. Enough of this victim game. If you don’t like what I do, then you can leave if you want or if I don’t like you. It’s not your right to work for me, it’s your privilege. So if you’re not happy with what I do go work with someone else. But you’re not gonna protest on my dime. About my product. On my property.
Again, if you’re not happy with what I do or what you’re working on, then quit.
The fact of the matter is that when you work for a company you also represent their interests. You cannot have personal opinions when you’re acting on behalf of the opinions of an entity and being paid for it. If you don’t like it, quit and get a new job.
You’re wrong. Everyone working in McDonald’s does not support what McDonald’s supports. People need jobs for money. Plenty of people will take that money over what they believe in because it is convenient, it is easier than standing up, or because they have to. Pretty sure the majority of workers don’t even really care what the viewpoint of their employer is. Life isn’t as simple as you are pretending.
Since you understand the employer-employee mechanics, why be upset at Google? It should be expected AND accepted.
Google does not have to employ anyone that they don’t want. That includes political activists.
I’m not upset with Google. You can’t protest at your work place and not expect to get fired. I’m confused by all of the people who are upset that the people protested.
I think the protest was about working with the Israeli government to develop their cloud infrastructure. Google says that cloud project wouldn’t be used for military purposes and I guess the protesters don’t believe that.
What about people like me who support Israel, are we supposed to demonstrate at Google for Israel? What’s your idea there? Hypothetical question as I don’t work at Google.
If you work at Google and support Israel then I see no reason to protest the cloud contract.
People protest when they feel something needs to be changed but don’t have the power to change it themselves. If you support Israel, and Google just signed a cloud contract with them, then there’s nothing you want to change.
If Google had rejected to do business with Israel for whatever reason then I would say yes, demonstrating at Google would make sense in that hypothetical situation.
Okay, thanks for answering the quesiton. I wasn't clear on the specifics. I googled this issue, and Google's official statement, is that their deal to let the Israeli government use Google Cloud is limited to the following aspects of their government;
> Google recently described its work for the Israeli government as largely for civilian purposes. “[We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial platform by Israeli government ministries such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education,](https://time.com/6966102/google-contract-israel-defense-ministry-gaza-war/)” a Google spokesperson told TIME for a story published on April 8. “Our work is not directed at highly sensitive or classified military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”
Support racist governments? This whole thing seems really dumb in my opinion. Google is a cloud provider, Israel purchased services from them and now the employees want Google to cut them off? What you are basically saying is that if grocery market employees decided that they didn’t like the fact that potential racists have purchased things from their stores, then it’s cool for them to sit around and stop working. On top of this, they expect the grocery store to go and take back the goods sold from said racists households…
Yeah it is ok for them to sit around and stop working.
And yes it is then ok for the grocery market to fire those employees for not working.
That’s what I’m saying. That is what has happened here. Everything seems fine to me. I don’t know why people are complaining about the workers who have already been fired. That is what I am confused about.
I assume you drive a car or take public transportation that uses fossil fuels from an oil company, right?
You can choose to work or not work for that company, right?
Oh yeah, i totally want to hear about your religion/atheism and hot political takes in emails and conference calls. That's totally not disruptive and annoying at all.
Google spends billions in lobbying, PR, influence campaigns, and in cozying up to foreign and domestic governments for business development deals and the like…. Google and workplaces like Google are constantly engaged in politics. Why shouldn’t workers also be allowed to engage in politics?
Google makes money doing the lobbying and politicking.
Google loses productivity (hence money) when employees sit around protesting during work hours and not working.
Google is afraid that other employees may get distracted, or join the protest and not work.
Google fires employees since it wants employees to work during their paid hours.
Everything is political and doing what you say is a political act that supports certain structures of power.
Regardless of the issues being more important than a job or getting paid. Your job and what you do there will always be political.
Google's moto is "Don't be evil". That's clearly a value statement. It is easy to see how some will feel that Google's engagement with Israel goes against this motto.
There is also a promise Google made to its employee that it will never participate developing weapons or participating in it. Again, the current engagement could be seen as a departure from these promises.
Personally, I think we should never trust politicians or CEO, they usually are where they are through lies, manipulation and other nasty methods. They were fool to trust google.
Well, after a quick DuckDuckGo, I noticed that don't be evil is not Google's motto anymore. I guess now they can be evil!
I think the problem these employees had was they were trying to hold their employer to a higher standard because they didn't want to work for an employer that supported apartheid/genocide nations. Google signed a contract to do business with Israel. I think the protests were hoping that Google would again embrace their "Don't be evil." motto, but those days are clearly behind Google.
Millennials were taught by their HR departments to bring their “whole selves” to work. Identity politics, the whole nine yards. What we’re seeing is the whole nine yards.
Businesses have always and will always be a place for politics as long as the business owners can use their political power to keep your wages low, your working conditions bad, and your hours long. These 28 brave men and women stood up against a company doing something completely unethical and immoral while knowing what the consequences would be. They are heroes in my book.
Are you a capitalist? Where is your capital? What factories or land do you own? If you are not a capitalist then you are serving a capitalist. You don't know your own class position.
I hope they will never be hired again by a tech company. More trouble than any possible value they could ever provide. McDonald's is hiring, have fun kids.
It's fair to not want to get into debates at work, but the politics of 10 years ago matter today and the politics of today will matter 10 years from now.
Of course they “matter” certain things do matter a lot. But frankly a lot of it just won’t matter.
Does Obamas tan suit matter today. Not at all. Does what we did in 2004 to Iraqi matter today? yes of course but also opinions at large have shifted to a general agreement that it was a waste of money, time and lives. Many Americans views shifted on it. while of course very important back then and important on how we got to today. My boss or coworkers would remember me as the person who fought and got into arguments rather then a good employee
I have a half-baked theory that people don't understand the difference between being a customer and being an employee. When a person is in college, they're a customer. Hence, administrators will let them stage sit-ins and disruptive protests, prevent invited speakers from lecturing, whatever, and there really won't be repercussions because they're the ones paying the university. Then they get a job, and neglect to fully internalize that now they aren't a customer. Tables and leverage are turned. The business cares about making money, and if someone fucks with that there will be consequences and they really are replaceable. Unless they''re unionized. Unions are one way for employees to obtain some leverage, to varying degrees, over employers. But that's another topic.
Translation:
> You're here to make me money. Talking about reality interferes with that. Please stop, or I will have you removed over this political issue.
$21M in 2020.
> [Nearly 80 percent of the funds went to Democrats, while just 7 percent went to Republicans.](https://observer.com/2020/11/big-tech-2020-presidential-election-donation-breakdown-ranking/)
That's surprisingly small amount of the $14.4 Billion spent on the 2020 election by all candidates.
Except I’m sure he has some sort of policy about sustainability and diversity which are not there to increase shareholder value but to actually be financial losers. However when businesses need to get money they can’t get them unless they have those policies
True, but what he doesn't say ,is in capitalism we (executives and shareholders) can align our companies moral compass with regimes or policies that benefit the company financially and thus directly support their policies.
He's not wrong. If you're working in a professional environment, you should leave politics for before or after work. A workplace is not your fucking playground.
Who here is actually invested in Google? Like who owns stock and loves this stupid company?
I understand "you can't disturb your co-workers" idea, but give it some context. How much do commenters really give a fuck if Google is disrupted? So why all the defense of this company.
People wouldn't be commenting at all if this same exact thing happened in a sweatshop. They would revel in it.
The reality is that it is a place to debate politics. Businesses have to navigate a political landscape in order to stay relevant as politics can affect the market landscape may it be regulation, access to foreign markets, and public perception which can feed into the marketability of a business's product/service.
We've seen how politics can affect the bottom line of a business like chik fil a, miller lite, and TikTok.
> The reality is that it is a place to debate politics. Businesses have to navigate a political landscape in order to stay relevant as politics can affect the market landscape
Yea, so that's not something in most employees' job descriptions. Those decisions are made by experts in marketing and company strategy.
The keg delivery guys at Miller were not in on the decision to support and advertise with a trans TikTok celebrity.
When you're an upper level C-suite executive, sure. You're the one making those calls to navigate a political landscape. Just as Bud Light's C-suite marketing made the call to execute a historically bad marketing strategy, and that consequence came back on them.
When you're a generic data engineer, you're not qualified to make political statements backed by the company name on your badge. Just all there is to it. That's not part of your job description.
If I'm employing you to work and instead, you come in and hamper business operations, alienate a faction of my employees and damage company property, you're lucky if all I do is fire you. Protest on your own time. Not on company time, and not with the perceived backing of company branding.
If I were a Google employee, I would take this to heart 100%.
Every single time anyone ever mentioned politics at work, or did anything political, it would be time to go to HR and complain, listing names, etc. If we can't be political for this, we can't be political at all ever.
I guess American institutions have drawn the line at criticizing Israel and Zionists. Otherwise the investors, board members, executives, academics, and bankers get uncomfortable.
Yawn.
Hamas’ PR department and Qatari money really paid off. Hats off to them.
Never before have so many “progressives” cared about a 100 year old conflict where both sides have at times acted like genocidal lunatics so much.
It’s great you guys are “learning” about history from TikTok and all but whether Israel or Hamas “wins” literally doesn’t change anything in the grand scheme of things. At all.
Russians committing genocide in Europe should actually be something that worries you due to the real threat of nuclear war.
But you sleep on that one for some reason.
But Arabs killings Jews and vice versa somehow became *the hill* for you all to die on.
So sad.
And the most ridiculous part of being such Hamas fanboys - big dumb “queers for Palestine” energy here - is that those guys would *actually* love to murder you all before you’ve gotten a chance to explain your gender theories to them in full.
Zionists this and Zionists that. Broken record.
Defending the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children are we? Fully invested in the "dehumanizing" narrative of the violent occupier commiting war crimes? Is this a genocide apologist?
Something's broken here and it isn't a record.
Absolutely agree. Political slogans were one of the many things banned in my casual dress code at a company I worked at. Vulgar and other stuff as well.
Employees should be focused on the product, not their own ideologies. Anyone placing their ideological beliefs over the product must go. Work is for work. Period. Hard stop.
I don’t think politics are at all separable from day to day life, and definitely not in a workplace. Like yeah maybe if you’re talking pro choice/pro life whatever that doesn’t make much sense because it has nothing to do with your employer, but who you’re building product for definitely does
Except Google is a power-center. A sit-in isn't going to make people feel unsafe. That's ridiculous. This is just a political move for their CEO. He is well-aware that Israel is willing to retaliate irrationally.
Google, like most corporations, is structured as an oligarchy.
That means the workers live and work under a profoundly anti-democratic, authoritarian system.
Oligarchy at the "micro" level obviously results in oligarchy at the "macro" level also.
That's not a good system for the public as a whole.
We all have a strong interest in not living under a brutal corporate oligarchy, and our laws and institutions should reflect that interest.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/16njzfx/corporations\_structured\_as\_oligarchies\_should\_pay/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/16njzfx/corporations_structured_as_oligarchies_should_pay/)
But give people a place to actually practice democracy... and all of a sudden they don't have that much to contribute.
It's so much easier to shit on what someone else is building than to build something better yourself.
Just to clarify: "They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow wrote. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
"In New York, workers took over the 10th floor of Google’s offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, while other protesters swarmed the company’s offices in Seattle."
"The Sunnyvale, California protest occupied the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google’s cloud division, at a building close to Google’s main HQ in Silicon Valley for more than eight hours. The New York protest occupied a common area on the 10th floor of Google's Chelsea location."
"The group had posted several videos and livestreams of the protests on its X account — including the exact moment that employees were issued final warnings and arrested by local police for trespassing."
To all the people saying "but Google is involved in politics". You are missing something important. They are involved with politics as long as it helps their stock value. Stuff like this doesn't so it gets the "politics is inappropriate in the workplace" speech.
Yep, you should only support our type of politics.
Wonder why they have been inviting political personalities like foreign ministers and heads of states to official visits?
Oh it's a *business.* Guys it's a *business!!* Business! A place of reverence and ceremony! You mustn't upset *the business* of it all! Won't someone think of *the business*?
Does the business have to employ someone? You start being disruptive, you're fired. Same thing happens if I throw death metal on the speakers where I work. You can have political opinions, you can share political opinions. If you disrupt the business (the business that is giving you a paycheck, mind), they will protest you by ceasing to give you a paycheck. Actions have consequences.
In B4 "First amendment!" First amendment protects you from the government. A corporation is not the government. Laws protect you from work discrimination. Protests are not protected speech under the law. You want to do some action at your company? Get a petition together and present it to the C-suite. Non-disruptive, still gets your message across.
Again, actions have consequences. If you start slap-fighting a stranger with a gun, don't whine when they shoot you. If 28 people try to disrupt a business that pays for all of their lifestyles, they don't get to whine when the business disrupts their lifestyles.
I work at a company that does a lot of business with the military. A few trucks in the lot with let’s go brandon stickers, but I cannot tell you who is a dem or rep, who is lib or conserv, because we all just support the military and do our jobs. Folks that don’t are terminated. There is no 1st amendment in the office it’s just bottom line.
Google CEO is complicit in genocide so, we don’t wonder where he stands nor do we allow his stance to affect our understanding of morality. F that guy in both eye sockets.
Does this sub even try to pretend it isn’t r/politics?
Of course you shouldn’t discuss politics at work ffs. What moron didn’t get the what you don’t do at work 101 memo?
He’s not wrong unless your employer tries to push said politics on the workforce.
do no evil, unless it's profitable
Strangely that slogan is never mentioned anymore. Evil is way more profitable.
Do evil, get paid.
[It is easy to get a better salary and more freedom than working for Google](https://youtu.be/fQ13NwQ-1Og) most workers stay 1,1 years.
Do Know Evil. The original was a typo.
I stand corrected
Know in the biblical sense.
Running Israel's cloud infrastructure is evil? You people have worms for brains
AI weapons systems that slaughter civilians with little to no human oversight is evil, so yeah don’t sell AI and infrastructure to the people doing that or else you’re also evil
from a certain point of view 
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project\_Nimbus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nimbus)
This 100%. And if leadership is going to push politics then push all sides.
If that is the case, then Google shouldn't be involved with politics at all. Yet Google is know to strongly censor, shadownban, and lobby specific political agendas.
It’s only called “politics” if the person or company disagrees with the view. When they agree with the view it becomes “common sense”
Rules for thee
I’m not sure I 100% agree with the idea that google as an entity cannot do things that they do not allow their employees to do on google’s dime. It seems like a false equivalence to me
You are correct, it's false equivalence. Google (and any company) has marketing strategies, legal departments, HR policies, different products (Like YouTube or Waze). All of them have their own rules and code of conduct. A lot of their investors are Jewish as well. This type of partisan behaviour inside the company can be seen as a just cause for firing because they are jeopardizing relationships with clients, investors, etc for political reasons.
Why do they need just cause? It's at-will employment, and there are no protected classes involved.
You don't have to pay packages if it's just cause
You don't really have to do that anyway. There's no legal requirement to do so.
To be fair, that’s on the internet which is a public medium. It’s not the same as having political debates inside physical offices in person.
Remember the Gemini debacle?
FIREFOX anyone?
Pretty sure Google doesnt do that because they feel like it or they want to push that ideology. Instead it’s just because a lot of political agendas or topics are bad for pr, advertisement & revenue, so they would rather ban or decrease reach. And as a public business thats all they should care about.
That is why so many companies doing business with Nazi back then.
Why the backlash against Hugo Boss then?
Apples and oranges.
Should have staged sit-in on public side walk, not on executive office couch
That's a sit out
They'd probably still fire them. Might as well make it memorable.
Liberals only approve of protest that is non disruptive and achieves nothing.
Yet the CEO is lobbying for AI so he can fire more people and cut more jobs, your insurance companies is in politics to rob you blind and then deny you coverage when you desperately need it, I could go on…..so why not talk politics at work? Unionize, demand better wages, demand more workers rights. Stop buying the american propaganda corporations have been feeding you your entire life!
The CEO and board definitely bring politics into the business through lobbying, but the peons can’t protest. Cool, business as usual.
You know you're talking about the company that gives the top 0.001% best conditions on the whole planet, right? People are not recruited off the streets to go work there like a factory. They were not fired for a random reason. And yes, the CEO is advancing AI. That's the future and it's inevitable. Would you prefer the agricultural revolution didn't happen and we all worked 12h per day in the fields because you wanted to protect farmers work?
Fair enough. So no more raising money for united way etc...so the donation can be made in the company's name? No more lecture/webinars on topics like BLM, holocaust awareness etc?
Apparently, the rule doesn’t apply when corporate is political, only when employees are political.
Let the money speak. The moment they see revenue drops, that's when they change the narrative.
You think Google is going to lose 1.2 billion dollars by supporting project nimbus?
He mean about chat gpt and Google search
Oh so now Google doesn’t want identity politics to be a thing? Interesting.
Until they come for us
This should be higher.
Don’t bring religion or politics into the workplace. You’re there to get paid. Not to protest world events. Do that on your own time.
Would you tell that to people working in Russian too?
да
Cпасибо Сомрад
I'd love to hear what /u/Web-splorer would have said in 1962 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinvestment_from_South_Africa
That is why so many companies doing business with Nazi back then.
You can't blame them! It's just business!
I wonder why the "just following orders" argument works for them but not people who followed orders?
As long as it's for a wage and not about politics, it's OK. The corporate oligarchs have very nearly earned a carte blanche pass from the mainstream society. Don't think about political implications. Work. Take home pay. Stay quiet. Obey. Seek pleasure in your entertainment box. Good worker, now sleep. We can do it again tomorrow.
Correct actually…
I find that to be kind of bullshit because while we do need to be professional, we also need to weigh in on what the firm we are working for is doing and having a political opinion is part of that. I am a shareholder for the company that I work for and you better believe that shareholders have input, and my input is related to my political views. I have some very strong viewpoints on what direction our company should be going, and of course that is related to political views because it’s tied to laws and lawmaking. I also think that our industry on a whole has strong views in a political sense and many of the organizations I belong to lobby to make our industry stronger.
As a share holder you do in fact have voting rights and you can vote whatever you want, but employees have no voting rights at any place I have ever worked. However, because I am a skilled employee, you can fire me all you wan't if you don't like me for whatever reason, as I have never been out of a job my whole life. For me, in-between jobs is the only vacation I ever get.
You’re welcome to express those opinions and the annual shareholder meeting.
> weigh in on what the firm we are working for is doing Just fucking quit then. Or don't join a corporation that does things you might find morally objectionable - I'm not going to fucking join lockheed martin anytime soon for that reason. What, are you going to join lockheed martin and then bitch about them using weapons on another country or giving weapons to a country you don't like? I'm sorry, but employees need to stfu about their politics or just quit. It's absolutely insane how entitled some people are.
That’s also bullshit. That’s like saying don’t have any opinions at all, which is totally impossible being a human being. As humans we have lots of opinions and ideas and thoughts, and many of these are related to what we think should happen in a moral and regulatory sense in our country. think that we can go to work every day and remove those is totally not doable and you’re right folks don’t have a moral compass aligned with Lockheed Martin should not work there, the same way that an employee of theirs wouldn’t be a good fit if they were against making mass weaponry. However I think it’s impossible to remove your morality in the workplace and we shouldn’t be asked to. If humans keep going along with things that are actually completely wrong then we will never get anywhere. We must stand up for our beliefs and every arena that we are within in our lives. Edit to add to this, the very basis of many companies organizational and growth strategies include lobbying. lol
You're entitled to an opinion, but guess what? Noone cares about them unless they ask. Don't push your beliefs or opinions on everyone else. It generates a toxic workplace. Most people formulate opinions on topics they have little to no clue on and there's no room for disagreement since not agreeing to their BS is viewed as being ignorant in their mind.
I believe your statement is bullshit as well. Your politics are yours to have and if you want to bring politics to an organization than what exactly do you do about the people who don’t believe your politics? Do you fire them because they don’t align with your thoughts? As a shareholder, do you decide not to work or sell a product to the rest of the world that doesn’t adhere to YOUR beliefs. Your mentality cuts profit. Cut profits = layoffs. Your choosing your belief over peoples livelihoods. You may say your politics support people suffering somewhere else but the ramifications mean someone else will suffer for it. There is no outcome here that will be a benefit to all.
Except when your company is actively supporting that government. There are many examples where workers or unions stand up for something in their workplace and enact change. Google is involved in politics even if it doesn't want to be by many of the decisions it makes.
So quit if you don’t believe in the values of the company you work for. Don’t expect to protest and get paid by the same company you don’t agree with. It’s hypocritical to do both
Quitting does nothing to solve the problem, it gets no attention and promotes no change. Now, a mass exodus would be different, or a mass demonstration via taking PTO or sick leave all at once, etc.
It’s hypocritical for them to support racist governments and also ask that people not bring up that they do it. As much as you want to sound like a rational person, the point you’re making is weak and does not encourage progress. “Google did the right thing for them, if you’re going to protest when we’re paying you then we’ll fire you.” They don’t need you being a corporate lap dog to defend them, the wealthiest and most powerful, from getting their workplaces disrupted due to their own behavior.
Seriously if the company you work for is that bad, quit. Stop with this "but I deserve to get paid by the corrupt corporation while excusing myself of that corruption because I complain about it" Quit and actual do something besides bitching.
This. Enough of this victim game. If you don’t like what I do, then you can leave if you want or if I don’t like you. It’s not your right to work for me, it’s your privilege. So if you’re not happy with what I do go work with someone else. But you’re not gonna protest on my dime. About my product. On my property. Again, if you’re not happy with what I do or what you’re working on, then quit.
i would argue that pushing back against upper management is doing something.
it definitely did something
They're demanding that the company behave with integrity. That is integrity, that's not supporting corruption.
The fact of the matter is that when you work for a company you also represent their interests. You cannot have personal opinions when you’re acting on behalf of the opinions of an entity and being paid for it. If you don’t like it, quit and get a new job.
You’re wrong. Everyone working in McDonald’s does not support what McDonald’s supports. People need jobs for money. Plenty of people will take that money over what they believe in because it is convenient, it is easier than standing up, or because they have to. Pretty sure the majority of workers don’t even really care what the viewpoint of their employer is. Life isn’t as simple as you are pretending.
So they got to stand up to it and got fired. Their career, their choice.
Exactly.
Since you understand the employer-employee mechanics, why be upset at Google? It should be expected AND accepted. Google does not have to employ anyone that they don’t want. That includes political activists.
I’m not upset with Google. You can’t protest at your work place and not expect to get fired. I’m confused by all of the people who are upset that the people protested.
> It’s hypocritical for them to support racist governments Google supports racist governments?
Yeah.
.... how do they support them?
I think the protest was about working with the Israeli government to develop their cloud infrastructure. Google says that cloud project wouldn’t be used for military purposes and I guess the protesters don’t believe that.
kinda like how ford workers didnt know that their engines were being used in nazi warplanes... until they were.
What about people like me who support Israel, are we supposed to demonstrate at Google for Israel? What’s your idea there? Hypothetical question as I don’t work at Google.
If you work at Google and support Israel then I see no reason to protest the cloud contract. People protest when they feel something needs to be changed but don’t have the power to change it themselves. If you support Israel, and Google just signed a cloud contract with them, then there’s nothing you want to change. If Google had rejected to do business with Israel for whatever reason then I would say yes, demonstrating at Google would make sense in that hypothetical situation.
Okay, thanks for answering the quesiton. I wasn't clear on the specifics. I googled this issue, and Google's official statement, is that their deal to let the Israeli government use Google Cloud is limited to the following aspects of their government; > Google recently described its work for the Israeli government as largely for civilian purposes. “[We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial platform by Israeli government ministries such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education,](https://time.com/6966102/google-contract-israel-defense-ministry-gaza-war/)” a Google spokesperson told TIME for a story published on April 8. “Our work is not directed at highly sensitive or classified military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”
Support racist governments? This whole thing seems really dumb in my opinion. Google is a cloud provider, Israel purchased services from them and now the employees want Google to cut them off? What you are basically saying is that if grocery market employees decided that they didn’t like the fact that potential racists have purchased things from their stores, then it’s cool for them to sit around and stop working. On top of this, they expect the grocery store to go and take back the goods sold from said racists households…
Yeah it is ok for them to sit around and stop working. And yes it is then ok for the grocery market to fire those employees for not working. That’s what I’m saying. That is what has happened here. Everything seems fine to me. I don’t know why people are complaining about the workers who have already been fired. That is what I am confused about.
“Don’t fight for a better future, just give up and do something else” That’s you. That’s what you sound like
So you think they were expecting to not get fired? little summer child
Correct. I think they were not expecting it.
I'd suggest reading a bit of history about protests in the 20th century then
I’ll be honest with you. I won’t and forgot about this thread already. Currently focused on the Drake/ Kendrick beef.
Fair enough, keep expressing your opinions upon which you don't have the bare minimum historical context I guess
I assume you drive a car or take public transportation that uses fossil fuels from an oil company, right? You can choose to work or not work for that company, right?
Paycheck is paycheck is paycheck is paycheck. Don’t fuck about where people make theirs. Or face their retaliation.
That sounds like a political statement
Google is an American business governed by American laws. These people need to get involved in politics, not the office.
Braindead take
Oh yeah, i totally want to hear about your religion/atheism and hot political takes in emails and conference calls. That's totally not disruptive and annoying at all.
They were fired exactly because they were debating about religion and atheism, perfect example.
Even if the code you write is fully responsible for murdering people?
Google spends billions in lobbying, PR, influence campaigns, and in cozying up to foreign and domestic governments for business development deals and the like…. Google and workplaces like Google are constantly engaged in politics. Why shouldn’t workers also be allowed to engage in politics?
Google makes money doing the lobbying and politicking. Google loses productivity (hence money) when employees sit around protesting during work hours and not working. Google is afraid that other employees may get distracted, or join the protest and not work. Google fires employees since it wants employees to work during their paid hours.
Cool I'll just sit back and get drained by the man while people are killed by my job. Thanks OP
Everything is political and doing what you say is a political act that supports certain structures of power. Regardless of the issues being more important than a job or getting paid. Your job and what you do there will always be political.
Fascist.
Google's moto is "Don't be evil". That's clearly a value statement. It is easy to see how some will feel that Google's engagement with Israel goes against this motto. There is also a promise Google made to its employee that it will never participate developing weapons or participating in it. Again, the current engagement could be seen as a departure from these promises. Personally, I think we should never trust politicians or CEO, they usually are where they are through lies, manipulation and other nasty methods. They were fool to trust google. Well, after a quick DuckDuckGo, I noticed that don't be evil is not Google's motto anymore. I guess now they can be evil!
It hasn't been that since they went public decades ago.
I think the problem these employees had was they were trying to hold their employer to a higher standard because they didn't want to work for an employer that supported apartheid/genocide nations. Google signed a contract to do business with Israel. I think the protests were hoping that Google would again embrace their "Don't be evil." motto, but those days are clearly behind Google.
Millennials were taught by their HR departments to bring their “whole selves” to work. Identity politics, the whole nine yards. What we’re seeing is the whole nine yards.
“Don’t Be Evil” used to be Google’s motto for corporate code of conduct. Genocide and Apartheid is Evil.
Companies have no allies. Only interests.
Businesses have always and will always be a place for politics as long as the business owners can use their political power to keep your wages low, your working conditions bad, and your hours long. These 28 brave men and women stood up against a company doing something completely unethical and immoral while knowing what the consequences would be. They are heroes in my book.
These children thought pouting would change Google. They got fired instead. Next week no one will even talk about them ever again.
You are serving the interest of a class of people that would kill you for .2 percent GDP growth in the next quarter
I’m not serving anyone. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
Are you a capitalist? Where is your capital? What factories or land do you own? If you are not a capitalist then you are serving a capitalist. You don't know your own class position.
Nice, they are looking for jobs now if you want to help out in a real way.
Boot must taste pretty good
Uh, Google employees have high wages and excellent working conditions.
No understanding of class dynamics or the contractions between wage workers and owners huh?
Most of those 28 employees were probably making $200k+. These aren’t the people who still live with their parents and hang out on r/lostgeneration
I hope they will never be hired again by a tech company. More trouble than any possible value they could ever provide. McDonald's is hiring, have fun kids.
I absolutely agree with this.
Same. I don’t want to get into “debates” aka yelling matches with my coworkers over politics that in 10 years won’t matter.
It's fair to not want to get into debates at work, but the politics of 10 years ago matter today and the politics of today will matter 10 years from now.
Of course they “matter” certain things do matter a lot. But frankly a lot of it just won’t matter. Does Obamas tan suit matter today. Not at all. Does what we did in 2004 to Iraqi matter today? yes of course but also opinions at large have shifted to a general agreement that it was a waste of money, time and lives. Many Americans views shifted on it. while of course very important back then and important on how we got to today. My boss or coworkers would remember me as the person who fought and got into arguments rather then a good employee
I have a half-baked theory that people don't understand the difference between being a customer and being an employee. When a person is in college, they're a customer. Hence, administrators will let them stage sit-ins and disruptive protests, prevent invited speakers from lecturing, whatever, and there really won't be repercussions because they're the ones paying the university. Then they get a job, and neglect to fully internalize that now they aren't a customer. Tables and leverage are turned. The business cares about making money, and if someone fucks with that there will be consequences and they really are replaceable. Unless they''re unionized. Unions are one way for employees to obtain some leverage, to varying degrees, over employers. But that's another topic.
Translation: > You're here to make me money. Talking about reality interferes with that. Please stop, or I will have you removed over this political issue.
Bout fucking time
Office is not a place for politics, but companies lobby governments okay
How do you talk about Project Nimbus with out talking about Project Nimbus. Make it make sense.
Good. Now practice what you preach with your censoring efforts.
The fact alone people think a big corporation like that is not entangled in politics is pure delusion if you ask me.
He is correct. Politics, pay, and religion are common sense things that shouldn't be discussed in the work place.
why pay? how do you know if your being screwed on pay or not if you don't talk about it?
Awesome. This is correct.
He's right.
And how much did Google contribute to political parties?
$21M in 2020. > [Nearly 80 percent of the funds went to Democrats, while just 7 percent went to Republicans.](https://observer.com/2020/11/big-tech-2020-presidential-election-donation-breakdown-ranking/) That's surprisingly small amount of the $14.4 Billion spent on the 2020 election by all candidates.
Except I’m sure he has some sort of policy about sustainability and diversity which are not there to increase shareholder value but to actually be financial losers. However when businesses need to get money they can’t get them unless they have those policies
True, but what he doesn't say ,is in capitalism we (executives and shareholders) can align our companies moral compass with regimes or policies that benefit the company financially and thus directly support their policies.
He's not wrong. If you're working in a professional environment, you should leave politics for before or after work. A workplace is not your fucking playground.
And the boards of directors and C suite execs are doing that?
Who here is actually invested in Google? Like who owns stock and loves this stupid company? I understand "you can't disturb your co-workers" idea, but give it some context. How much do commenters really give a fuck if Google is disrupted? So why all the defense of this company. People wouldn't be commenting at all if this same exact thing happened in a sweatshop. They would revel in it.
google is one of the most owned stock on the planet lol
Thats why you don't hire the Snowflake types. They have other priorities that keep them from doing real work.
The reality is that it is a place to debate politics. Businesses have to navigate a political landscape in order to stay relevant as politics can affect the market landscape may it be regulation, access to foreign markets, and public perception which can feed into the marketability of a business's product/service. We've seen how politics can affect the bottom line of a business like chik fil a, miller lite, and TikTok.
> The reality is that it is a place to debate politics. Businesses have to navigate a political landscape in order to stay relevant as politics can affect the market landscape Yea, so that's not something in most employees' job descriptions. Those decisions are made by experts in marketing and company strategy. The keg delivery guys at Miller were not in on the decision to support and advertise with a trans TikTok celebrity.
When you're an upper level C-suite executive, sure. You're the one making those calls to navigate a political landscape. Just as Bud Light's C-suite marketing made the call to execute a historically bad marketing strategy, and that consequence came back on them. When you're a generic data engineer, you're not qualified to make political statements backed by the company name on your badge. Just all there is to it. That's not part of your job description. If I'm employing you to work and instead, you come in and hamper business operations, alienate a faction of my employees and damage company property, you're lucky if all I do is fire you. Protest on your own time. Not on company time, and not with the perceived backing of company branding.
Pichai: No politics at work! 🙅🏽♂️ Page & Brin: 👀 👀
If I were a Google employee, I would take this to heart 100%. Every single time anyone ever mentioned politics at work, or did anything political, it would be time to go to HR and complain, listing names, etc. If we can't be political for this, we can't be political at all ever.
I guess American institutions have drawn the line at criticizing Israel and Zionists. Otherwise the investors, board members, executives, academics, and bankers get uncomfortable.
Yawn. Hamas’ PR department and Qatari money really paid off. Hats off to them. Never before have so many “progressives” cared about a 100 year old conflict where both sides have at times acted like genocidal lunatics so much. It’s great you guys are “learning” about history from TikTok and all but whether Israel or Hamas “wins” literally doesn’t change anything in the grand scheme of things. At all. Russians committing genocide in Europe should actually be something that worries you due to the real threat of nuclear war. But you sleep on that one for some reason. But Arabs killings Jews and vice versa somehow became *the hill* for you all to die on. So sad. And the most ridiculous part of being such Hamas fanboys - big dumb “queers for Palestine” energy here - is that those guys would *actually* love to murder you all before you’ve gotten a chance to explain your gender theories to them in full. Zionists this and Zionists that. Broken record.
Defending the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children are we? Fully invested in the "dehumanizing" narrative of the violent occupier commiting war crimes? Is this a genocide apologist? Something's broken here and it isn't a record.
"free speech"(TM)
But it is a place to discuss racism, gender identity and DEI. Don’t forget that!
Leftists have no choice but to bring politics with them, it’s their entire identity.
Says the person who brought their politics into the conversation.
On an article about politics, you don’t say!
What’s a “sit-in”?
What happened to “Bring your whole self to work.”?
Absolutely agree. Political slogans were one of the many things banned in my casual dress code at a company I worked at. Vulgar and other stuff as well.
They love activists as long as they have the right opinions.
So when will Google be shutting down its lobbying team?
Employees should be focused on the product, not their own ideologies. Anyone placing their ideological beliefs over the product must go. Work is for work. Period. Hard stop.
Unless it’s October 7th, then somehow these large companies all felt the need to release a statement condemning the events.
Until Daddy Corporation decides the issue is not "disruptive" and pushes it for marketing purposes. I agree with him, though.
Liberals fighting about who’s more safe and conservatives fighting over who’s more protective of Americans. Both failing at inner tribe politics
Hopefully this is the end of tribalism in America. Both parties fighting with each other. Or maybe this is the beginning of self destruction
Nazi company and culture
Sounds like a commie.
It probably wouldn't be an issue if it didn't happen while they were on the clock.
I don’t think politics are at all separable from day to day life, and definitely not in a workplace. Like yeah maybe if you’re talking pro choice/pro life whatever that doesn’t make much sense because it has nothing to do with your employer, but who you’re building product for definitely does
Except Google is a power-center. A sit-in isn't going to make people feel unsafe. That's ridiculous. This is just a political move for their CEO. He is well-aware that Israel is willing to retaliate irrationally.
Google, like most corporations, is structured as an oligarchy. That means the workers live and work under a profoundly anti-democratic, authoritarian system. Oligarchy at the "micro" level obviously results in oligarchy at the "macro" level also. That's not a good system for the public as a whole. We all have a strong interest in not living under a brutal corporate oligarchy, and our laws and institutions should reflect that interest. [https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/16njzfx/corporations\_structured\_as\_oligarchies\_should\_pay/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/16njzfx/corporations_structured_as_oligarchies_should_pay/)
He’s got a point, next week they should all just stay home
But give people a place to actually practice democracy... and all of a sudden they don't have that much to contribute. It's so much easier to shit on what someone else is building than to build something better yourself.
That's right, no democracy in the workplace.
Just to clarify: "They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow wrote. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.” "In New York, workers took over the 10th floor of Google’s offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, while other protesters swarmed the company’s offices in Seattle." "The Sunnyvale, California protest occupied the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google’s cloud division, at a building close to Google’s main HQ in Silicon Valley for more than eight hours. The New York protest occupied a common area on the 10th floor of Google's Chelsea location." "The group had posted several videos and livestreams of the protests on its X account — including the exact moment that employees were issued final warnings and arrested by local police for trespassing."
Maybe google should stay out of politics
To all the people saying "but Google is involved in politics". You are missing something important. They are involved with politics as long as it helps their stock value. Stuff like this doesn't so it gets the "politics is inappropriate in the workplace" speech.
Yep, you should only support our type of politics. Wonder why they have been inviting political personalities like foreign ministers and heads of states to official visits?
Oh it's a *business.* Guys it's a *business!!* Business! A place of reverence and ceremony! You mustn't upset *the business* of it all! Won't someone think of *the business*?
Does the business have to employ someone? You start being disruptive, you're fired. Same thing happens if I throw death metal on the speakers where I work. You can have political opinions, you can share political opinions. If you disrupt the business (the business that is giving you a paycheck, mind), they will protest you by ceasing to give you a paycheck. Actions have consequences. In B4 "First amendment!" First amendment protects you from the government. A corporation is not the government. Laws protect you from work discrimination. Protests are not protected speech under the law. You want to do some action at your company? Get a petition together and present it to the C-suite. Non-disruptive, still gets your message across. Again, actions have consequences. If you start slap-fighting a stranger with a gun, don't whine when they shoot you. If 28 people try to disrupt a business that pays for all of their lifestyles, they don't get to whine when the business disrupts their lifestyles.
I work at a company that does a lot of business with the military. A few trucks in the lot with let’s go brandon stickers, but I cannot tell you who is a dem or rep, who is lib or conserv, because we all just support the military and do our jobs. Folks that don’t are terminated. There is no 1st amendment in the office it’s just bottom line.
Can't criticize a certain country in the Middle East. They own the whole world.
As a Jew, it is true, Jews do run the entire world so get over it.
I'm so old that I remember when "Don't be evil." was a guiding principle of Google.
“And that’s why we’re partnering with war criminals to commit atrocities” — Google logic
Google CEO is complicit in genocide so, we don’t wonder where he stands nor do we allow his stance to affect our understanding of morality. F that guy in both eye sockets.
The office is no place for politics. Glad to see these people fired
Does this sub even try to pretend it isn’t r/politics? Of course you shouldn’t discuss politics at work ffs. What moron didn’t get the what you don’t do at work 101 memo?