Google won’t honor medical leave during its layoffs, outraging employees
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)
Would you believe that Google's mass firings from January are still going on? Google's reported mishandling of its biggest round of layoffs ever has employees up in arms, and they're doing everything from walking out on the job to sending angry letters to management.
First up, European Googlers are just now being laid off due to the January announcement. Reuters reports that more than 200 workers were laid off from the Zurich, Switzerland, branch of the company this week. The employees at that office walked out for a second time in protest of the move and even offered to take pay cuts or reduce working hours to stave off the job cuts. Google's layoffs seem driven by a desire to placate the stock market, though, so it's no surprise that these offers fell on deaf ears.
Many of the Swiss workers that walked out in protest are members of the IT workers' union Syndicom, and a union spokesperson told Reuters, "Our members at Google Zurich and all employees joining the walkout are showing solidarity with those laid off. They are bothered by the non-transparent nature of the layoffs and are especially disappointed that Google is laying off workers at a time when the company is making billions in profit every year."