Thousands of Google employees all over the world are walking out of offices in protest against the handling of sexual harassment cases by the management.
The demonstrations started at 11:10am in Tokyo and at other places at the same time zone, the Guardian reported.
Pictures were shared on Twitter of employees in Singapore, Zurich, London, Dublin and other cities, showing a number of men and women participating in the walkout.
The protest, called the The Walkout for Real Change, kickstarted after media reported Google gave a $90 million in severance to Andy Rubin, a director at the company’s X Lab, but concealed sexual harassment allegations against him which led to his firing.
Employees are also demonstrating for equal pay and equal opportunity.
AFP further reported that Google chief executive Sundar Pichai sent out an email to employees on Tuesday vowing to take a “much harder line on inappropriate behaviour”.
"As CEO, it's been personally important to me that we take a much harder line on inappropriate behavior," Pichai said in the message.
He also said he has talked with a lot of staff members on the subject of inappropriate behaviour at work and that the company is "deeply sorry for the past actions and the pain they have caused employees."
Forty-eight employees have been fired by the company in the past two years, including 13 senior executives in sexual harassment cases, the Google CEO added.
The New York Times on October 25 posted an expose at allegations against Rubin, the father of Android, reporting that Google gave him a significant severance package while concealing the allegations. Google had done the same in at least two other cases, the paper reported, and failed to say anything about the sexual harassment allegations against them.
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