This is the public version of this petition, for our users and members of the community to show their support for these changes happening at Google. Sign below.
Dear Sundar,
Acting in solidarity with the July 20th Strike for Black Lives, Googlers Against Racism call on Alphabet to take stronger action in dismantling racism and advancing equity across our company in solidarity with the communities that host our offices. Alphabet has an unprecedented opportunity to be a global leader in antiracist corporate action. Google’s recent commitments to racial equity are commendable and represent the first step, but Alphabet continues to build products, conduct employment practices, and impact communities in ways that increase racial disparities - actions that cause particular harm for Black+ workers and users.
One of the demands of the Strike for Black Lives is that “Corporations take immediate action to dismantle racism, white supremacy, and economic exploitation wherever it exists, including in our workplaces.” We look forward to Google setting the standard for anti-racist corporate leadership.
In addition to the demands in our other petition on ending police contracts, we believe there are meaningful ways that Google can respond to the pain many are expressing. The following are common-sense actions that the company should take in the short term to show that it takes its responsibility in dismantling racism seriously:
End forced arbitration for all new TVC contracts. Last year, Alphabet listened to organizers and ended forced arbitration for FTEs. It’s time to continue that work and stop the practice for TVCs as well, by committing to no new contracts with vendors who participate in forced arbitration.
Elevate the Chief Diversity Officer to answer directly to the CEO and make recommendations directly to the Board of Directors. In addition, appoint an Employee Representative to the Board of Directors. These are both long-standing demands from the Women’s Walk, and they remain unaddressed. We believe these actions are important to demonstrate that Alphabet considers equity and inclusion for its workforce to be key for the success of the company, rather than optional boxes to check.
Provide statistics on compensation and promotion by race, ethnicity and gender across both level and years of industry experience. Another unfulfilled Women’s Walk demand, we believe that data, and transparency on how this data was gathered, is an essential first step to ending pay inequality, which we know affects Black women the most. Because a disproportionate number of TVCs are BIPOC, even for otherwise similar engineering positions, it’s important that this data include our extended workforce. It’s also necessary for statistics about promotion rates, PERF scores, and level at hire to be collected, as it’s clear that bias also influences whether Googlers’ achievements are recognized. This data, aggregated to protect privacy, should be gathered and made available in the US and all other countries where it is legal to collect it. As Google has recently come under scrutiny by the media and Congress for reducing its diversity initiatives, now is the perfect time to demonstrate a new commitment to such work.
Increase diversity in leadership to actually match the software engineering community. The recent goal to improve leadership representation of underrepresented groups by a mere 30% in five years is too little too late. Black Googlers currently constitute only 2.6% of leadership; this goal, if reached, would result in a change of less than a percentage point. This is a drop in the bucket, especially considering that since 1997, the share of computer science bachelor’s degrees in America held by Black people has been around 10%. We recommend targeting 10% Black+ in leadership positions. Ours is a company of moonshots; a 30% relative increase is chipping away at the margins. To blame the pipeline is an abdication of responsibility. Leadership is not an innate characteristic; all of our leaders have gotten where they are from a combination of opportunity, coaching, and sponsorship.
End NetPAC campaign contributions to politicians who have received an F report card from the NAACP. Consistent with the Strike for Black Lives demand that “Elected officials and candidates at every level use their executive, legislative, and regulatory authority to begin to rewrite the rules and reimagine our economy and democracy so that Black communities can thrive,” we feel it is crucial not to support politicians who perpetuate racist policies.
We are under no illusion that these demands are comprehensive or sufficient to dismantle our company’s role in continuing systemic racism. However, not to address these concerns represents a failure on the part of leadership to meet the moment. We have a long way to go to correct for centuries of harm, and we must seize every opportunity we can to build a society that is consistent with our values. Let’s start with a meeting to work together on this.
Googlers Against Racism