Hundreds of Google workers in Zurich walked out after 200 of their colleagues got laid off

• Hundreds of Google workers walked out Wednesday in Zurich, Switzerland.
• The protest came after 200 workers were laid off following the cuts announced in January.
• Thousands of staff offered to have their wages and hours reduced to avoid job losses, a union said.

Hundreds of Google workers walked out of its Zurich office Wednesday in protest over mass layoffs that resulted in about 200 people losing their jobs in Switzerland.

The IT union Syndicom, which represents some Google employees, announced the walkout in a blog post, saying employees called on the company to "engage in dialogue with workers to thoroughly and seriously examine alternatives to layoffs."