--START--Google employees in Seattle, Kirkland walk out over treatment of females at workplace | The Seattle Times

Originally published November 1, 2018 at 11:53 am Updated November 1, 2018 at 1:24 pm

The walkout at Google's Fremont and Kirkland offices were part of a companywide protest reflecting a growing #MeToo-style backlash among women against frat-house misbehavior in heavily male-dominated Silicon Valley.

Seattle Times staff reporter

Dozens of Google employees in Seattle joined hundreds around the world in walking out off the job Thursday in a protest against what they said is the tech company’s mishandling of sexual-misconduct allegations against executives.

The walkout at Google’s Fremont offices were part of a companywide protest at offices from Tokyo and Singapore to London and New York, reflecting a growing #MeToo-style backlash among women against frat-house misbehavior in heavily male-dominated Silicon Valley. Employees also staged a walkout at Google’s Kirkland offices.

Protesters in Seattle carried signs with such messages as “No one is free when others are oppressed,” “Not OK Google” and “Don’t Be Evil” — a mocking reference to Google’s one-time motto.

“It’s just kind of sad to see something like this happen in a place that is super liberal like Google,” said Alan Morales, 25, a software engineer in Seattle. “There are positions and relationships of power and I just don’t think it was handled very well in the case of the Android founder.”

Archana Singh, 29, who works in sales for Google in Seattle, said she’s “from India, so I’ve seen this a lot and I feel like big companies like Google have to take a stand. If not Google, then who?”

Thursday’s walkout could signal that a significant number of the 94,000 employees working for Google and its corporate parent Alphabet remain unconvinced that the company is doing enough to adhere to Alphabet’s own advice to employees in its corporate code of conduct: “Do the right thing.”

The organizers said Google has publicly championed diversity and inclusion but hasn’t done enough to put words into action. (As of 2016, 31 percent of Google employees were female.)

In an unsigned statement from organizers, the Google protesters called for an end to forced arbitration in harassment and discrimination cases, a practice that requires employees to give up their right to sue and often includes confidentiality agreements.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this post.