The four worker-activists who were fired by Google during Thanksgiving week plan to file federal charges alleging that their former employer fired them to quash worker organizing, in violation of federal labor laws. Google told its staff of approximately 100,000 last week that the employees were fired for “clear and repeated violations of our data security policies”, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg. But in defiant interviews with the Guardian on Monday, the workers rejected that justification as a pretext.

“Google fired us not just to target us, but to send a message to other employees in the company,” said Sophie Waldman, one of the fired software engineers.

The firings represent a serious escalation in long simmering labor unrest at Google, which has seen growing discontent from employees over issues such as the corporate response to sexual harassment, the treatment of the vast “shadow workforce” of temps, vendors and contractors (TVCs), and the ethics of some of Google’s projects and clients. The firings were announced less than a week after the New York Times revealed that Google had hired an anti-union consulting firm.

Three of the fired workers – Berland, Waldman and Rebecca Rivers – identify as LGBT, and some of their activism involved organizing within employee resource groups (ERGs) for trans or gay Googlers to push the company on issues such as equal benefits for same-sex partnerships.

“From the beginning, queer and trans people at Google have banded together to make sure we have great benefits and a strong community,” said Waldman. “A lot of us feel very directly that it’s us and people like us that are on the line” when it comes to the company’s ethical decisions. Berland recalled successful efforts organizing with other “Gayglers” for equal health insurance benefits for same-sex partners before gay marriage was legalized across the US. “Back then, the results of our workplace organizing were successes,” he said. “I remember a time when we got real wins from our employer.”