From CNET: After a two-year legal battle, Google has settled with six engineers it allegedly fired as retaliation over workplace activism. The terms of the settlement are under a non-disclosure agreement. Four of the fired workers will not be given their jobs back, and the documents won't be made public, according to a report from Motherboard.
Four workers were fired from Google in late 2019 for violating the company's security policy after engaging in workplace activism. In August of last year, a judge ordered Google to release 1,507 internal documents that laid out a secret campaign to crush union organizing within the company, known as Project Vivian. The aim of the program was to discourage employee activism, and according to a report from Input Mag, to convince workers that "unions suck." One of the employees who filed the complaint still works at Google.
"We settled the NLRB charges and associated litigation and are pleased for all sides to avoid years of legal proceedings," a Google representative told CNET in an email. "We've always supported our employees' right to speak about working conditions, and we stand by our policies that protect the security of our systems and safeguard user, customer and employee data."
"I think this is about as much a victory as can be had through the NLRB," said Kathryn Spiers in an interview with Motherboard. Spiers was one of the engineers fired by Google. She went on to say, "I've spent two years doing this because I wanted reinstatement. I've watched everyone I've been excited to work with or organize with slowly leave Google. It's something I'll never get back."
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