"Google Japan employees form union as layoff threat looms" 4 March 2023

Employees at Google's Japanese arm has unionized for the first time, as the wave of layoffs by big tech companies spreads beyond the U.S.

The Google Japan Union on Tuesday sent the company a request for collective bargaining. The union says dozens of employees have attended its briefings and more than 50 are expected to sign on.

Google announced in January that it would cut 12,000 jobs, equivalent to 6% of its global workforce. According to the union, President Shinji Okuyama emailed Google Japan employees in early February saying there would be "some sort of notification" in March.

The technology giant began making cuts elsewhere, leaving employees shaken as colleagues suddenly left or could no longer be reached at their company email addresses. The growing unease spurred many at the Japan unit to join the union.

Some Google Japan employees received emails Thursday morning from human resources offering added bonuses if they make a decision within 14 days to resign -- along with job placement support. A number were scheduled for one-on-one meetings with managers.

"There's nothing there that's illegal in and of itself, but it can be interpreted as in effect encouraging people to resign," said Akai Jimbu, secretary general of the Tokyo Managers' Union, under which the Google union is organized.

Emails went out to some union members Friday morning saying Google Japan would negotiate through the union and that the one-on-one meetings would be canceled.

As of Friday, the company had not responded to a request from Nikkei for an interview.

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Unlike the U.S., where most employment is at-will and companies can generally dismiss workers freely, Japan has much tighter restrictions.

Unless workers voluntarily agree to end their employment contracts, businesses seeking to downsize must meet requirements established by legal precedent, including showing job cuts are necessary and that they made an effort to avoid them. This includes local units of foreign companies, like Google Japan.

As of Friday, Google Japan had only gone as far as informing workers about severance packages and benefits for leaving, without forcing anyone out. If the company does resort to dismissals, it will likely have to prove in court that its flagging global growth justifies cutting jobs in Japan specifically.