Google workers on Thursday delivered a petition to CEO Sundar Pichai, calling for layoff protections as the tech giant continues to slash its workforce while pouring billions into artificial intelligence. The petition, led by the Alphabet Workers Union, includes more than 4,500 signatures and demands guaranteed severance, buyouts before mandatory layoffs in all product areas, and the option to take severance as extended paid leave.
“Make no mistake: this is a company that is enjoying massive, unprecedented success,” said Parul Koul, a Google software engineer and president of the Alphabet Workers Union, outside the company’s California headquarters. She pointed to Google’s $4 trillion valuation, which has quadrupled over the last six years. “These layoffs and cuts are not difficult decisions, but simply profit being put over the people that make this company run.”
Union Demands and Company Response
Union members are also asking to end performance ratings they say are based on achieving quotas rather than merit. Upon delivering the petition, workers were “greeted with closed doors and no response for the most part,” Koul said. They left the petition with a staff member in Pichai’s office, who committed to delivering it to the CEO. “This petition is the largest piece of employee feedback that Google has received about job security,” she added.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At Thursday’s press conference, workers called out Alphabet’s mass layoffs in 2023, which drew shouts of “shame” from the crowd. Workers also chanted: “Google, Google you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.”
AI-Driven Workforce Reductions Across Big Tech
The petition comes as big tech companies thin their ranks, with some explicitly citing AI as a reason. Google has been cutting its workforce in recent months as it ramps up its AI spend. Google Cloud quietly laid off some employees about two months ago, according to Business Insider. Last summer, the company eliminated more than one-third of its managers overseeing small teams, according to an audio recording obtained by CNBC.
In the company’s latest earnings call, Anat Ashkenazi, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, called AI a “key investment area,” in which the company plans to continue hiring and boost marketing support. Google did not comment on whether AI has played a role in its layoffs, but the CEO of its DeepMind division previously told Wired that companies trying to replace developers with AI “have a lack of imagination.”
Broader Industry Trends and Worker Backlash
Employees across Silicon Valley are attempting to shield themselves from the effects of the AI boom. The day before the petition went public, dozens of Meta employees sued the social media giant for allegedly using artificial intelligence tools to tag workers for mass layoffs. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, conducted a workforce reduction of about 8,000 employees earlier this year. The workers allege that those AI tools targeted them after they asked for protected or maternity leave or disability accommodation. Meta disputed the allegations; a spokesperson wrote in a statement, “These claims lack merit and are not based on facts.”
Meanwhile, Oracle laid off about 21,000 employees over the last year and suggested in its latest annual report that the adoption and deployment of AI “may continue to result in reductions to our workforce.” Block laid off almost half of its workforce – roughly 4,000 employees – earlier this year, with its CEO, Jack Dorsey, citing efficiency gains due to AI. This month, Microsoft announced plans to cut about 2.1% of its workforce – about 4,800 jobs, mostly in its Xbox gaming division – as it invests in AI.
Alphabet Union Campaign Gains and Unmet Demands
Thursday’s petition builds on the Alphabet union campaign that has already secured at least one victory: voluntary exit packages for more than 70,000 workers. The petition aims to address unmet demands. “We’ve organized actions mobilizing hundreds of Googlers around the country to raise visibility and attention to these concerns and despite this, Google management has chosen to ignore us,” Koul said. “This is why we gathered here in person today.”
Dan Freedman, a Google software engineer and Alphabet union member who works on AI tools for designers, was among several employees at the press conference who raised concerns about AI’s impact on workers’ jobs. After AI was added to his job requirements, he feared he wasn’t using it enough and that it could replace him. He recoils with anxiety when he hears about layoffs at the company. “I have to wonder if I’m next,” he said.
