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Google Employees Stage Protest Over Handling of Sexual Harassment (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Employees at Google offices around the world held a wave of walkouts on Thursday to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment. The walkouts, which started in Asia and spread across continents, were planned for around 11 a.m. in their time zones. Protests were held through the day in Google offices in the United States. The backlash was prompted by an article in The New York Times last week that revealed that Google had paid millions of dollars in exit packages to male executives accused of harassment, while staying silent about the transgressions. As late morning arrived in different time zones on Thursday, Google employees walked away from their work at offices including Singapore; Hyderabad, India; Berlin; Zurich; Dublin; London; New York; and its headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Employees posted photos on social media, but it was unclear how long the protests lasted as many of those who stopped working stayed inside the buildings. The employees who organized the walkout have called on Google to end its use of private arbitration in cases of alleged sexual assault and harassment. They have also demanded the publication of a transparency report on instances of sexual harassment, further disclosures of salaries and compensation, an employee representative on the company board and a chief diversity officer who could speak directly to the board.

2 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. And the whole thing is horseshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here's why: I worked at Google. At Google, today, you can't as much as argue with a feminist (and I'd bet money most of Google's female employees consider themselves that), let alone sexually harass anyone for real. I once called out a female SJW on internal Google+ for "kill all white men" type of rhetoric. This promptly resulted in her reporting me to HR for "harassment". This is the kind of offense threshold we're talking about here. Does Google have bad apples? Any company of 85K people has at least a few. Can you get fired for as much as looking at some female co-worker wrong? 100% you can, if you're not Andy Rubin or the like. There is "process" for that: you get reported to HR, and security will walk you out the door for a mere "credible" accusation, no evidence or physical contact required. So the whole thing is SJW bullying plain and simple. If you're not walking out with them, you're misogynist bigot and literally a Nazi. So glad I don't work there anymore.

  2. Re: Hire stupid harassers by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I love how here any such claims, no matter how wild, get modded up high. Now I expect to be modded down for pointing this out, despite it being true. If there's one thing the "anti SJW" can't stand it's dissent.

    Do you work for a company with more then 300 people, a Fortune company, or company listed on a major stock exchange that has annual profits greater than $15m/year? How about been to a university in Canada, US, or Europe in the last 15 years? Can you name the last time you had mandatory workshops on any of the following: Sexual harassment/workplace etiquette/triggers/trigger-words/micro-aggressions/politically (in)correct language/politically correct speech/politically correct terminology.

    Has your HR dept or student life/student union/professor published memo's outlining speech guidelines, improper speech, improper word usage in essays/papers, warnings against particular types of speech in the university and/or aggressively made restricted speech in a public university which is backed by the university president and/or dean of students. Thinking on the university, can you or can you or not remember at any point in the last 4 years where a TA, professor or tenured professor has been unofficially or officially sanctioned by either other professors, or adjoining body, or open protests by students for wanting to show full arguments/open discussion/defense of speech/views protected by charter/constitutional law/students rights charter/employment act/student union protections on an issue.

    If the answer is no. Then you haven't interacted with mainstream education, or corporate culture in the last decade in any western country. In turn, you're ignorant of what's going on around you. If yes, then you're either accepting of these views or you're either not paying attention or are simply lowering your head so much to not make any waves, you've accepted the abnormal as normal.

    Feel free to read campusreform, Fire, or anything similar for universities. Go on and read up about the Title IX abuses and abuse of students with no due process for indictable offences/felonies. Feel free to read the employment manual and/or the up to 20 supplemental documents at a major company. Read The Guardian, Vox, Vice, The Root, Huffpo, and read the articles that led to those same policies you're now skimming over. Look at the universities that are primary hires at these major companies, then go take a look at the googlers and their statements. Notice anything yet?

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    Om, nomnomnom...