Google workers protest at Mountain View headquarters

Dozens of Google employees gathered near the company’s Mountain View headquarters on Thursday, demanding stronger protections against layoffs. They held signs reading “Googlers for Job Security” and wore matching black shirts. The protest was organized by the Alphabet Workers Union, which has around 1,400 members.

The union is asking Google to guarantee severance for every laid-off worker, offer voluntary exit packages before mandatory cuts, and end forced-distribution performance ratings. They also want Google to make voluntary exits a formal policy instead of offering them selectively.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, employs nearly 191,000 people. The company has cut tens of thousands of jobs since 2022, often through repeated rounds that left employees waiting for the next notice. Google laid off 12,000 employees in 2023 and has since conducted several smaller rounds, collectively affecting thousands of employees.

The petition, which the union first wrote in early 2025, asks Google to guarantee severance for every laid-off worker and offer voluntary exit packages before mandatory cuts. The union also wants Google to end forced-distribution performance ratings and let employees receive severance as extended paid leave.

About 20 workers began delivering the petition around 9 a.m. on Thursday, visiting the offices of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and senior vice presidents Rick Osterloh and Nick Fox, then going to CEO Sundar Pichai’s office. The executives were not there to meet with them, and the employees slipped the petition under their doors.

At the protest, speakers described a workplace reshaped by several rounds of layoffs. Nobel Barakat, a Google software engineer, said he sees worried people trying to keep their jobs by working longer hours. Matthew Hoffman, a Google DeepMind engineer, joined the protest to show his support, even though he had not been personally affected by layoffs.

As television cameras rolled, workers raised their signs and chanted: “Google, Google, can’t you see? We deserve security.” The protest drew on Google’s long history of employee activism.

Parul Koul, the president of the Alphabet Workers Union, told the crowd that employees have the power to change things for themselves. She said the only thing preventing them is how organized they are. The union says Google offered voluntary exit packages to more than 70,000 workers across several rounds since the campaign began.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s workforce is now organizing around something more fundamental: whether employees can count on basic security in an era of rolling layoffs, tougher performance systems, and anxiety over how AI will reshape their jobs.