Google Employees Launch Campaign to Pressure Silicon Valley on Workplace Harassment

Google employees reportedly plan to launch a social media campaign in order to pressure Google and the other Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe to change their policies surrounding workplace harassment.

Recode reports that a group of Google employees plan to take to social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter this week in order to pressure tech giants to change their policies surrounding workplace harassment in the tech industry. The campaign aims to highlight the use of forced arbitration by many companies, which is often hidden deep in employees contracts and essentially prevents employees from taking their employers to court over issues in the workplace.

A number of tech firms, including Google, recently removed this clause from employee contracts but many still use it in cases related to racial or religious discrimination. Employees are much less likely to win a case against their employer in cases of arbitration rather than through the court system, multiple studies have shown. Employees reportedly plan to share facts about forced arbitration on Twitter from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm ET on Tuesday. The group also plans to share testimonials from employees and interviews with experts via Instagram every half hour.

Following a number of walkouts at Google offices worldwide in November of 2018 — including at its Mountain View headquarters location where approximately 3,000 employees vacated the building — in protest of allegations of sexual assault by executives at the company, the tech giant has chosen to update their policies relating to sexual misconduct. The Chicago Tribune reported at the time that the company is planning to be more forceful and transparent about the handling of sexual misconduct claims by Google employees.

In an email sent to staff, Google CEO Sundar Pichai laid out the company’s plans stating: “Google’s leaders and I have heard your feedback and have been moved by the stories you’ve shared. We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that. It’s clear we need to make some changes.”

Whether other companies will be forced to drop forced arbitration from their employee contracts as Google did remains to be seen, Breitbart News will keep an eye on Twitter and Instagram on Tuesday as we follow this story closely.