Hundreds of Google employees walked off the job in Cambridge Thursday, following revelations that the company paid millions of dollars in exit packages to executives accused of sexual misconduct.
The Cambridge walkout was part of a company-wide protest demanding change. Employees staged walkouts at offices from Tokyo and Singapore to London and New York, with more expected in California, reflecting a #MeToo-era backlash among women against frat-house misbehavior in heavily male-dominated Silicon Valley.
The protest comes a week after the New York Times reported that the company gave Android software creator Andy Rubin a "hero's farewell" — and a $90 million exit package — despite the fact that an employee had accused him of sexual misconduct. Rubin has denied the misconduct allegations.
Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Vice President of People Operations Eileen Naughton wrote an email to staff saying that the company had fired 48 employees for sexual harassment in the last two years and hadn't given exit packages to any of them.
Pichai also sent an email to employees earlier this week, saying, "if even one person experiences Google the way the New York Times article described, we are not the company we aspire to be."
Employee Vicki Tardif Holland told WGBH News that she and her co-workers who gathered in Kendall Square want abuses of power to stop.
"We want to make sure everybody has a safe work place here at Google," she said. "We want to see an end to pay and opportunity inequality."
Workers at the company's Cambridge location said they are having meetings with senior staff to discuss a plan of action, including the possibility of getting rid of forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination. Meanwhile, Pichai said in a statement that employees around the world have raised constructive ideas to improve company policies.
The Associated Press, WGBH News Reporter Tina Martin, and WGBH News Digital Producer Emily Judem contributed to this story.
