INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Google has terminated Rebecca Rivers, an employee activist the company put on indefinite administrative leave this month, Rivers tweeted
this afternoon.
Google declined to comment but confirmed an internal note published by Bloomberg, which said Google fired a total of four
employees for repeatedly violating its data-security policies.
Earlier this month, Google put Rivers and Laurence Berland on leave for
allegedly violating company policies
At the time, Google said one had searched for and shared confidential documents that were not pertinent to their job, and one had looked at
the individual calendars of some staffers.
Protestors on Friday, however, said Google was punishing Berland and Rivers for speaking out
The rally, where both Berland and Rivers spoke, was in protest of their administrative leaves.
I was just informed by @Google that I am
being terminated.
— Rebecca Rivers (@Tri_Becca90) November 25, 2019
Ahead of the rally, organizers said the &attack& on Rivers and
Berland &is an attack on all people who care about transparency and accountability for tech.& Organizers pointed to how Rivers helped create
the petition to demand Google end its contract with U.S
Customs and Border Protection, and how Berland has participated in a number of worker-organized campaigns, including the one resisting
YouTube role in facilitating hate speech.
Since themassive employee-led walkout last November, organizers say Google has tried to undermine
further attempts to organize
In July, walkout co-organizer Meredith Whittakerleft the companyfollowingreports of retaliation in April.Organizers of the rally say both
Rivers and Berland were put on leave for &simply looking at openly shared internal information.&
This comes shortly after The New York Times
reported Google hired an anti-union firm, ISI Consultants
Google employees, who the Times kept anonymous, discovered Google relationship with ISI via internal calendar entries.
