Two workers recently fired by Microsoft spoke out at a news conference Friday at the Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, joined by other tech workers who say they were terminated following pro-Palestinian speech and actions.
Hossam Nasr and Abdo Mohamed said they held a vigil to remember Palestinians killed in Gaza and a fundraiser on Microsoft's campus on Oct. 24. Hours later, they were terminated.
Microsoft said the disciplinary action was taken "without regard to viewpoint" and that the decision was made in relation to company policy.
Nasr and Mohamed said they had been organizing with other pro-Palestinian employees over the past year, culminating in the creation of the "No Azure for Apartheid" coalition. Azure is Microsoft's cloud-computing technology. The group wanted the company to disclose and end any business ties to the Israeli government or military, call for a ceasefire, and support pro-Palestinian speech by employees.
On Oct. 24, they organized the event, which they said included the reading of a poem by a Palestinian poet and tributes to people who died in Gaza.
Microsoft said in a statement:
“We remain dedicated to maintaining a professional and respectful work environment and provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. But, importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not disrupt business operations and be aligned to our company policies and behavior expectations. We do not permit employees to use devices like bull horns and speakers in public areas to disrupt the work of their colleagues. We were clear about our policies in advance with the event organizers and instructed that this gathering take place on public property. The organizers chose to disregard this guidance and were terminated.”
Nasr and Mohamed said they tried to have conversations with Microsoft personnel about holding the event in an authorized way.
"We simply did not get a clear answer on what policy we were violating despite us doing the research and doing the work of understanding Microsoft's policies that related to the Give guidelines," Mohamed said in response to a question about Microsoft's statement at the news conference.
Microsoft said it has "taken disciplinary action with regard to statements on multiple sides of these issues" and at this point does not intend to reverse its decision.
Nasr said he stands by his activism.
"Let me be clear, I have absolutely no regrets of my activism within Microsoft or outside," Nasr said. "This moment calls upon all people of conscience to raise their voice louder than ever."