The petition was presented by leaders of the Alphabet Workers Union at Sundar Pichai’s office at Google’s headquarters in California.
More than 4,500 Google workers have signed a petition to protect against layoffs, as layoffs continue to affect the tech industry.
The request was brought to the Google headquarters in California yesterday (July 16) by the leaders of the Alphabet Workers Union, and union president Parul Koul took it to the office of Google CEO Sundar Photosi.
Koul, a software engineer at a tech company, reportedly left a complaint with an employee who committed to bringing it to Photos, while hundreds of Google employees rallied outside. Koul said that when he presented the petition, the group was “greeted with closed doors and no response for the most part”.
“We want Google employees to have the conditions and security to do their best work, where they can bring new ideas and innovations to life instead of working in an environment driven by fear, where you may argue with your colleagues or every day you are not sure how long you will get this job,” Koul said at a demonstration outside Google’s headquarters, according to San Francisco News ABC7.
According to The Guardian, the union-led petition is seeking guaranteed severance, mandatory buyouts across all product areas and the option of retrenchment as extended paid leave.
Union members also called for an end to performance ratings, which they say are based on achievement quotas rather than merit.
The request comes as a slew of layoffs continue to affect thousands of tech workers across the industry, with the largest number of layoffs announced in 2026 alone.
Since the beginning of the year, companies including Meta, Microsoft (and its Xbox gaming division), Amazon, LinkedIn, GitLab, Cloudflare, Coinbase, eBay, Oracle, Snapchat, Epic Games, Atlassian and Block have all laid off large numbers of workers – as many similar companies increase spending on AI at the same time. Other companies, such as Block and Atlassian, have also made it clear that their decision to cut jobs is directly linked to their increased focus on AI.
Google has reportedly been quietly laying off employees again this year, with the company recently cutting roles in its Google Cloud division according to Business Insider. Another source reportedly told the publication that Google cited “the need to reinvest in growth areas, such as AI”, to offset the cuts.
The tech giant reportedly laid off more than a third of executives who oversaw small groups last year, according to CNBC.
Commenting on the Alphabet Workers Union petition and the broader trend of layoffs in favor of AI, Rebecca Hinds, head of the Work AI Institute at Glean, told SiliconRepublic.com that business leaders need to adjust their perspective on AI in relation to layoffs.
“Leaders should stop asking how many roles AI can eliminate and start asking whether work should be redesigned — what AI should do, what people should continue to have, and how productivity gains will be reinvested in people,” he said.
“Companies that use AI only as a headcount lever can reduce costs in the short term, but they will also outsource the skills and knowledge they need to compete.”
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