Thousands of workers at Alphabet Inc's Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) have staged a global walkout Thursday in protest at the company’s lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct.
Demonstrations at the company’s offices around the world in Tokyo, Singapore and Zurich have attracted media attention after a director of Alphabet Inc's X research lab resigned Tuesday following a bombshell New York Times report last week that detailed inappropriate workplace behavior and sexual abuse by several current and former Google executives.
Axios also reported Tuesday that Rich DeVaul, a director at X and co-founder of Project Loon, had stepped down without an exit package. DeVaul had propositioned a job applicant but had kept his job after an internal investigation.
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The New York Times reported that Google gave Andy Rubin, the creator of Android mobile software, a hero’s farewell when he left the company in October 2014. According to the report, the internet giant paid Rubin $90 million and praised him, while keeping silent about a sexual misconduct claim.
According to reports, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has sent an email to staff that apologized for Google's past inaction regarding sexual misconduct and said he supported employees who planned a protest walkout on Thursday in offices from London, Dublin, Tokyo, Bangalore, Berlin, Singapore, Zurich to San Francisco.
Biggest room we have. Didn't fit in anymore, but could listen in the overflow area. Hoping for change. #GoogleWalkout https://t.co/haa28CoFFd
— Jan Schneider (@janschne1der) November 1, 2018
In the email, Pichai said Google had terminated 48 people, including 13 senior managers, for sexual harassment over the past two years. Pichai added he was "fully committed" to making progress and taking a harder line against inappropriate behavior, Axios reported.
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