The Alphabet Workers Union, which represents directly employed and contingent workers at Google, said it delivered a petition to the company over layoff plans that include turning some workers into contingents as well as eliminate other employees.
Some 1,400 full-time and contingent workers signed the petition, according to the union.
The union said workers at Google Cloud were notified their roles would be eliminated and that the workers would be terminated if they could not find and transfer to a new role within 60 days. The workers included technical solutions engineers, their managers and program managers. The union called for a 180-day transfer window given barriers for transfer that some workers face, including those who have visas tied to their employment.
In addition, the union said Google announced approximately 100 Google Cloud workers would transfer from being direct employees to roles at vendors and contractors.
“Google wants to keep its reputation for treating its workers well but doesn’t want to pay for it, so it is turning employee roles into contract work, stripping workers of the quality working conditions they deserve,” said David Newgas, a member of the Alphabet Workers Union and a program manager at Google.
The union also criticized the company’s lack of transparency, saying some workers found out about the moves after they had been announced in the media.
Executives receiving the petitions were Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud; Atul Nanda, VP of Google Cloud support; John Jester, VP of Google Cloud customer experience, Tracey Arnish, VP of human resources; Ben Treynor, VP of engineering; and Ronaldo Ama, VP of engineering.