While carrying out more than one round of massive layoffs in the United States, the big tech companies are struggling to announce widespread cuts in Europe due to their strong labor policies. Under European law, companies are required to negotiate with employee interest groups and boards before implementing layoffs.
In an interview with the Bloomberg portal, people familiar with the matter say that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is negotiating to reduce the number of employees on a voluntary basis at its headquarters in France. Redundancy packages are being offered “generous enough” to convince workers to leave.
Amazon has tried to get some of its senior managers to step down, offering up to a year’s salary and granting leave so stock can be purchased as a bonus. The correspondent, who has not been identified, also said that France and Germany are among the nations with the most stringent labor laws and it is to be expected that they will be some of the last places to be affected by the cuts – if they are affected at all.
“We have been working carefully and individually in each country where reductions are taking place to fully comply with local legal requirements, which vary by location, are complex and take time,” a Google spokesperson told Bloomberg.
International scene
In response to Bloomberg, Google acknowledged the talks and added that it does not plan to implement layoffs in Romania, Greece or Austria. In the UK, however, about 500 out of every 8,000 company employees will be laid off. The British country does not have such strict labor protections and, despite offering termination packages, the number of layoffs is not up for negotiation.
“They are trying to do the legal minimum,” said Matthew Waley, a Unite the Union representative, referring to the ongoing negotiation process. According to the portal, this is also the case in Dublin and Zurich, where unions claim that Google is planning to fire more than 200 people in each.
Recently, European employees created a Google Works Council, which includes the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The organization is expected to be up and running in about six months and will be a powerful tool to promote the collective voice in future consultations.
While the disparate standards of treatment haven’t created friction between Google employees around the world, it’s clear how differently things play out between the United States and countries like France and Germany.
For Parul Koul, executive chairman of the Alphabet Workers Union and a software engineer at Google based in New York, “It’s inspiring for people in the United States to see that things are different elsewhere – it’s a model for what people can to fight”.
