this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2024
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It's early morning, and Zelda Montes walks briskly through the crisp New York air as they head to Google's headquarters on Manhattan’s 9th Avenue. Montes, who self-identifies as they, fumbles with their ID card at the entrance, blending in with the steady stream of Googlers swiping through the security barriers as if it were just another day at the office.

Armed with an oversized tote bag, Montes pulls back their purple hair and heads to the 13th-floor canteen to order their usual: a dirty chai and an egg, avocado, and cheese sandwich with a bowl of raspberries.

Their hands tremble slightly as they grip the coffee cup.

Locking eyes with two others, they get the signal that the coast is clear, head down to the entrance, and sit. The three Googlers unfurl their banners and begin chanting to demand that Google do one thing: Drop Project Nimbus.

But this will be the last time they sit inside Google's New York office as Googlers, as Google itself refers to its own employees. "Getting fired felt like a possibility but never a reality," remarked Montes, one of 50 employees fired by Google for staging a 10-hour sit-in at one of its American offices in April.

For the last three years, Montes has been one of several activists calling for Google to drop Project Nimbus, a partnership Google and Amazon have with the Israeli government reportedly worth $1.2bn.

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 135 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Getting fired felt like a possibility but never a reality

...tech people never fail to amaze me in their misty-eyed views of the companies they work for.

It's still disgusting and obviously an attempt to stifle dissent in the ranks, but like, firing someone for stuff like this is so common in the world that you have to be pretty naive to think it wasn't a reality and to prepare for it accordingly when you planned your sit-in.

Tech workers need unions so badly for reasons exactly like this.

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The biggest problem is tech workers tend to not be social and feel elitest. I know, I've been in the business 25+ years. You also have a lot of older folks poisoned against unions by politicians and the media. Building a tech union at this big companies is an uphill battle.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Can't expect people to do something they don't think they need.

It's a very fat industry. When (due to big fish failing, anti-monopoly activities, new systems, revolutions and nuclear wars) it finally becomes normal, there will be unions.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago

Another symptom of extremely silo'd educations. As someone in a STEM field who took a couple years extra to graduate because they didn't declare a major for two years, I see this shit constantly. Clearly, very intelligent people who have been once again let down by our education system, but this time at the University level.

To the point where I will probably get downvotes and angry replies about how learning that other stuff is useless. But I can tell you that it's absolutely not. I'm an engineer, and "Logic and Language" is still, by far, the most important course I've ever taken..

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Tech types are very often libertarian minded.

[–] sunshine@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] TonyOstrich@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No? Higher levels of education are generally correlated with more liberal attitudes. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/04/26/a-wider-ideological-gap-between-more-and-less-educated-adults/

Unless that's not what you meant, or I am missing something?

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Being Liberal is not the same as being an American Libertarian. The latter thinks tax is theft and has diverse views on whether children should be regarded as property under the law.

[–] WldFyre@lemm.ee -1 points 1 month ago

Great counter point

/s

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think even being in a union would help you there, unless you got the entire union on board.

I also don't understand why you'd even want to work for a company whose work you feel so strongly against.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Work is a lot rarer to find than people make it out to be.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago

Depends how much you think you need to make, and where you think you should live.