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Hundreds of Salesforce.com Inc. employees signed a letter to general manager Marc Benioff to criticize contracts with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency, the latest in a series of protests against government companies.
The letter indicates that staff recently learned that CBP uses three Salesforce products to recruit and "manage border activities". The agency is one of many organizations that implement and enforce Trump administration immigration policies at the border between the United States and Mexico, including those that separate families. President Donald Trump signed an order stopping the practice last week, although there is confusion over how the authorities will handle the application and reunite families.
"Given the inhuman separation of their parents currently taking place at the border, we believe that our core value of equality is at stake and that Salesforce should re-examine our contractual relationship with CBP and rule against its practices. ". according to a copy consulted by Bloomberg News.
More than 650 Salesforce employees have signed the petition since it began circulating last week, according to a person close to the company who asked not to be identified talking about private matters. Staff had scheduled a meeting Monday afternoon local time with Tony Prophet, Salesforce's head of equality, said this person.
"One of the greatest qualities of being part of the Salesforce family is that we proudly promote an open exchange of ideas and dialogue," said a Salesforce spokeswoman. "We are proud of our employees for their passion and their voice, and we will continue the conversation on this issue and other important issues." The company does not work with CBP "regarding separation of families at the border," she added.
The San Francisco-based cloud company joins the growing ranks of technology giants with employees who oppose the way their products are used by the US government. Google staff has forced the company to waive a Pentagon contract using Google's artificial intelligence software. Employees at Microsoft Corp. complained of a contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More than 100 Amazon.com Inc. workers wrote to CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to stop selling facial recognition software to the police force, according to The Hill.
Salesforce provides CBP with its Community Cloud, Service Cloud and Einstein Analytics, an AI tool, according to the employee letter. Service Cloud is a customer and field support management software. The product is the second largest business turnover of the company, with $ 848 million for the three months ended April 30. CBP uses this tool to improve the efficiency of border activities in the United States and manage citizen returns. announces in early March.
Community Cloud helps businesses and other organizations create online groups for customers, partners, and employees. The border agency uses this software to reorganize its human resource capabilities, including access to information on benefits and payroll. Salesforce analytics tools help CBP recruit.
Internal dissent over working with CBP is particularly challenging for Salesforce as it highlights the need to maintain exceptional growth against the self-proclaimed progressive values of the company and its leader. Benioff, Salesforce's CEO and founder, is outspoken on a range of social issues, including immigration. In 2015, he was a vocal critic of legislation in Indiana that would make it easier for companies to discriminate against LGBT people. This month, he retweeted two messages calling on CBP to house children in "cages" and not providing more information about detention centers. In their letter, the employees appeal to the reputation of the leader.
"Many of us choose to work at Salesforce because of Salesforce 's reputation as a business that fights injustice," reads the letter. "We want our work at Salesforce to have a positive impact on our friends and neighbors, not to make us complicit in the inhuman treatment of vulnerable people."
The outcry from employees comes amidst Salesforce's efforts to capture more government contracts. Chief Operating Officer Keith Block said on a conference call with analysts in May that the company has signed its largest public contract with the US Department of Agriculture, which uses the company's Cloud Service to communicate with voters.
(Updates with the Salesforce statement, the details of the border agency from the fifth paragraph.)
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