On May 20, 2026, Meta performed a mass round of layoffs, eliminating approximately 8,000 roles. In response, the elected Executive Board of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009 released the following statement:

“It’s another dark week in the tech industry. When Googlers hear that 8,000 of our fellow tech workers at Meta have been laid off via an email, we think of our coworkers who arrived at Google campuses in January 2023 only to find their badges had been deactivated. CEOs of tech companies will wax poetic about the valuable contributions of tech workers, but these callous actions speak louder than words.  

As Big Tech companies attempt to nudge ahead of each other in the AI race, our daily work lives are shifting. It’s undeniable that our whole industry is being transformed by the corporate push to adopt new AI tools. It’s hard not to feel anxiety and fear when we can see more and more tech companies cutting huge portions of their workforce both in anticipation of replacing them with AI, and to fund their multi-billion-dollar bets on AI as the future of the industry.

It might feel like we are powerless in the face of these overwhelming market forces, but as the tech workers who power these companies, we are the people best positioned to do something about it. The products generating massive profits for companies like Meta and Google don’t exist without our labor.

That’s why we say to Googlers and tech workers across the industry: don’t mourn, organize! Since early 2025, thousands of Googlers for Job Security have been organizing at Google campuses across the U.S. around four key demands for increased job security protections: guaranteed severance, voluntary buyouts before mandatory layoffs, no GRAD quotas, and the option to take severance as leave. Together, Googlers have won voluntary exit packages (VEPs), which have been offered to over 70,000 of our coworkers to date. This is an anomaly in our industry, and we know it came about as a result of our organizing.  

If you’re an Alphabet worker who woke up today scared that you could be next, join over 4,000 Googlers and sign the Googlers for Job Security petition. We are building a fighting union of tech workers who know our power – join Alphabet Workers Union, and let’s chart a future for the tech industry together in which workers have a real voice.”

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Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009 is a union of Alphabet workers in the U.S. and Canada, including full-time employees, temps, vendors, and contractors. For more information, please visit our website, www.alphabetworkersunion.org; Twitter, @alphabetworkers; Facebook, AlphabetWorkers; Bluesky, alphabetworkersunion.org; LinkedIn, Alphabet Workers Union; or Instagram, @alphabetworkers