Thousands of Google employees across the world were downing tools today in a mass walkout protesting the company’s handling of alleged sexual harassment.
More than 1,500 people, mostly women, are planning to walk out of two dozen company offices around the world to protest, organisers said.
Clare Stapleton, a product marketing manager at Google’s Youtube, helped to make the call for the walk-out.
The 33-year-old told the New York Times: “We don’t want to feel that we’re unequal or we’re not respected any more.
“Google’s famous for its culture. But in reality, we’re not even meeting the basics of respect, justice and fairness for every single person here.”
The walkout is planned for 11.10am for different time zones around the world.
Walk-outs in Asian counties have already taken place, ahead of Thursday’s planned walk-outs.
Photos from offices in Tokyo and Singapore have circulated on social media, with the hashtag #GoogleWalkout.
Workout organisers are demanding that Google make five concrete changes to its company police, which include Google committing to equal pay and opportunity, a publicly disclosed sexual harassment report and “an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and inequity”.
Current Google CEO Sundar Pichai and VP of people operations Eileen Naughton responded last week by saying that Google has sacked 48 people for sexual harassment in the past two years without giving any of them exit packages, but didn’t deny any of the alleged details in the Times’ report
